This cheap folding stool from Amazon was for my craft room. It just needed a little love. i.e. paint and material plus a wood circle to make it tad higher. I also added the feature of making the fabric top removable in case I want to change the color at some point. A little Velcro did the trick! This type of thing is what I refer to as a “Buff Your Stuff” item, meaning to take something you already have and give it a facelift. It can be something old or in this case something that needed changed. We’ve done a few chair makeovers but one of our most recent is where we took $2 Thrift Store Chairs and turned them into a Gorgeous DIY Bench Seat. Definitely check that one out!

Folding Chair Makeover Supplies

Folding stool from Amazon (Or any stool you want to makeover)
Paint
Fabric
Staple Gun
Wood if needed for your stool or circumstance

Instructions

This is the stool as it comes straight from Amazon. However, I would have liked it to be an inch higher.

I unscrewed the thin padded top from the bottom portion.

I purchased the fabric I could cover the top part with. Then I had Roy cut a circle out of 1″ wood. This would give me the added height I was looking for.

Then I painted my stool white.

I found that when I tried to cover the top portion of the seat the staples went through. So I purchased 1/4″ staples for my gun. Well guess what? They went through too. Just how short of staples did this company use anyway??

I decided to pry one up and see.

1/8th of an inch. I can’t even buy that short of a staple for my stapler. So I had to figure out how I was going to attach my fabric to the top part.

I decided adding in a circle of foam board would give me the little bit extra that would be needed so the staples would not stick through the top. I then began my stapling. You have to do this one “corner” at a time making sure your fabric is pulled nice and smooth.

I would trim as I went.

You have to be careful to avoid getting side wrinkles.

This was my final seat top.

I decided a couple of coats of Scotchgard wouldn’t hurt.

You may have wondered why I didn’t just cover this also but it would not have looked good. Trust me. So I painted the side of my 1″ board. I now had to attach my wood piece onto the metal base. Because the holes in the base were so large I just used some washers then regular screws.

Then I used my drill/screwdriver to attach the wood circle.

It’s now ready for the top material section.

I wanted the option to remove it should it get dirty over time or should I just want to change fabric at some point in the future so I decided to go with heavy duty velcro.

The Velcro I had just happened to be sticky back. Otherwise I could have hot glued it in place.

After attaching my Velcro and pulling off the backing piece I carefully pressed the seat in place. I was concerned if it would stick up on the edges but I don’t think that will be a problem, especially with being sat on regulary.