Wanna hear something weird? Up until now, we've never had bar stools. We've always had an island but have never actually had bar stools.
We had Sophie a year after we built our house in Michigan, had Hailey two years later, moved across the country six months later, and moved into our current house six months after that, so they had never really been a priority for us...until it was our turn to host our couples' monthly dinner party. You don't necessarily NEED bar stools for a dinner party, but where do you have your pre-dinner cocktails then...? Surely not at your intricately set dinner table - what are we? Heathens?!
We've only been in our house for a few months, and I'm still getting a feel for the space and style, so I decided to gussy up some inexpensive bar stools, instead of rushing into buying our "forever" bar stools. Who knows if I'm still going to want hot pink bar stools a year from now, but changing my mind for $150 sounds way better than changing my mind for $2000 (looking at you, Ballard Dayna stools! Similar)
How to DIY your own extra AF bar stools:
1) Start with unassembled(!) Amazon Basics plain white bar stools.
2) Spray paint them. I chose a glossy berry color, but the paint aisle at Home Depot is your oyster!
3) On your upholstery workspace, lie your fabric down and place your batting on top of it. I found three layers of batting to be my sweet spot - two didn't add enough cushion and four made it too hard to neatly cover with fabric. I chose a classic blue and white toile fabric that really pops against the berry.
4) Place the "saddle" piece upside down in the middle of your batting and fabric.
5) Tightly fold one side of your fabric in towards the center of the saddle, bringing the batting inside it.
6) Using a staple gun, staple your fabric and batting to the bottom of the seat. Since you'll likely reach under the seat to pull the bar stool out to sit on it, you'll want to keep your staples as far from the edges and as close to the raised pieces as possible. If you're neurotic like me, you can always cover your staples with dots of hot glue when you're done to smooth them out.
7) Repeat on the other three sides, ignoring the corners for now.
8) Now for the corners...pull the corner of the fabric tight around the corner of the seat and staple. You'll have a loose, saggy end on each side of the corner - this is expected!
9) Tightly fold each loose saggy end towards the center and staple it in place. Your loose, saggy ends will form a V of sorts on either side of the corner.
10) Trim and/or staple any excess fabric.
11) Repeat for remaining corners.
12) Assemble your bar stools!
The beautiful thing about these (and most furniture upcycling or DIY) projects is that they're super easy, super fun, and I was able to choose the color and fabric that perfectly suited my style. These are admittedly nuts, but I love them. Today, at least!
Life is short - have fun with your decor!
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