Sunday, June 20, 2010

A little footstool redo

I gifted my retro footstool, the one from the ken, to Ali's mom who fell in love with it on one of her many craft-day visits preparing for Ali's wedding. It fits better with her decor anyway! I've missed having a place to park my tired feet at the end of the day. My plan was to go thrift. Go for bigger (so that I could use it as a table as well as a footstool). And, of course, that it be, or at least wind up looking, Chateau Gahan adorable.

So this weekend I popped into Goodwill and saw this for $7. Possibilities galore with this little gem.So I channeled one of my most favorite bloggers, dottie angel, who does such simple, sweet things with vintage linens, and came up with this slipcover. It doesn't come close to having the handmade charm and detail that her pieces do, but I think I did OK in my attempt to create her feel. (And bottom line was that I wanted this to be an afternoon project, no painting involved. Done in a few hours kinda thing.)

I cheated big time on the gathered skirt. I used a bed skirt from IKEA, cut off the top portion, pinned it to the stool for size and then took it off and put it aside.
Then I took a crochet-edged table runner, cut it up (had to do this in order to make the edging work within the size of the stool), and added a hanky and crocheted doily. I hid some of the seams with white rick rack. Then sewed the gathered skirt onto this top piece.
Mr. Gideon was the first to test it out. (And no worries if he gets it dirty, since I can simply take it off and wash it).
I'm diggin' the size of it, and that it's the perfect height for my rather low chair. It turned out to be a very relaxing afternoon of sewing, listening to Prairie Home Companion on NPR, drinking iced tea and staying cool.

8 comments:

  1. What a pretty foot stool! You did a great job. The bedskirt idea was fantastic! And of course, the doggie makes it even better. :)

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  2. I love how you take a tailored piece and recreate it into your style.
    So girlie!

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  3. Oh I love it!!! I want to do something like this.

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  4. This might be one of my favorite projects of yours! Much akin to the fabric screen... you should definitely send this one in to them as well... it is absolutely adorable and I never would have thought to use a bedskirt... thrifty, smart and absolutely chateau gahan-rific!

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  5. hurrah for you and your luckiest of lucky thrift store stools :)
    indeed this is a classic WWDD moment... you thought just like i do, 'what would dottie do' and voila! a bit of vintage recycled goodness and your lovely footstool looks perfectly peachy indeed...

    Tif x

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  6. Oh, I feel so much relief now that I know you have such a pretty footstool for your tired feet. I love the one that used to be yours-perfect height, perfect color and perfect style-thank you again for my stool!

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