In my last post on my initial bathroom renovation, I talked about how I would be giving this room a refresh in the near future. I haven’t made a start on the full interior design updates and mini-makeover yet, but I have completed one small part of it by upcycling my bathroom stool, hence this DIY stool tutorial.

(I’ve included some affiliate links in this post, shown with an asterisk (*). If you click on them and make a purchase, I get a bit of money in my back pocket, to help towards future creations to share with you on my blog.)

Now, I’ve never been happy with the stool in our bathroom, even when it was first decorated. I bought a second-hand stool from eBay, and upcycled it by painting the legs silver (not a silver fan anymore) and covering it with a velvet damask material (not a damask fan anymore) which tied in with my blinds. I pin tucked the upholstery and added some clear crystal buttons.

I did like the look of it at first, but the cushion part was quite thin and every time I sat on it the buttons stuck into my derriere, and some of them eventually came out. One of the legs on the stool was constantly coming loose too, which was annoying. So you get the gist of why I disliked it from the get-go! Some interior designs and ideas just don’t work, either aesthetically or practically, and this was one of them. You can see the stool below.

A year or two back I could no longer cope with the uncomfortable buttons, so I did a rush job of grabbing a thick piece of sponge and covering it with the remaining material I had left (no buttons). It solved the comfort problem, however, the look of it wasn’t doing it for me. Here is the offending rush re-upholster 😳 .

Having seen a few sheepskin chairs and stools for sale online, and loving the look (but not the price), I decided this was the style I wanted go for. I had another old stool in the loft with straight (and not loose) legs that I preferred. Here it is before the upcycle.

Step One – DIY Stool Tutorial

Firstly I turned the stool upside down and unscrewed the screws that fix the seat pad in place.

Then I took out all of the staples that attached the current fabric around the seat pad using a staple remover that came with my staple gun. I then removed the old material.

Step Two – DIY Stool Tutorial

I lay the seat pad upside down on the underside of a long fur sheepskin throw that I’d bought from eBay (you can get a similar one *here) and cut it leaving about a 5″ border around the seat pad.

Next, was to staple the sheepskin to the seat pad, starting from the centre of one side, then stapling the centre of the opposite side, pulling the material as taut as possible. Then I did that same in the centre of the other two edges. I then continued stapling along all the edges, except for the corners, each time pulling the fabric as taut as possible.

I decided midway to trim the fur from the edges so I could get to it better.

Once all the edges were done, I pulled each corner as taught as possible, and stapled them down. I then gathered the other loose fabric around the corners and stapled that in place too. The corners are much easier to do with fur fabric, as you can’t see where the material is folded, so it doesn’t need to be perfect!

Step Three – DIY Stool Tutorial

Once the seat pad was covered, I put it to one side and made a start on the base of the stool. I primed and painted the legs and sides of the base with *black acrylic paint. It took 2 coats of the black for good coverage.

When the base was fully dry, I used *Plasti-Kote brass paint to create a drip effect on the bottom of the legs of my stool. I did this by loading my paintbrush with some of the paint, and then dabbing it at the bottom of the legs whilst upside down.

I made two dabs on each side of each leg, so as to create two drips.

Once dry, I screwed the seat pad back onto the base and swapped my unloved old stool for my quirky new one!

I think this DIY stool fits so much better in the bathroom than the old one.

And I’m really pleased with how the drip effect turned out.

I’m now much happier with my stylish AND comfortable DIY stool.

Now it’s time to start planning the rest of my bathroom refresh.

For more DIY projects, see my copper plant stand and embellished belly baskets.