Saturday we took a long overdue trip to SR Harris Fabric Outlet.
I now have supplies for more projects than I have time for….and inspiration for even more!

One purchase was a yard of pretty print to recover the stool that I sit on in front of my computer.

The stool is a $3.00 Thriftstore buy with the legs painted to match the other chairs and stools in the kitchen.

This is the way the stool looked at 1 o’clock Sunday afternoon….a year’s worth of me sitting on it in gardening gear had it looking a little worn and dirty.

This is the $5.00 yard of print that I bought….I always buy too much at the outlet….it seems so cheap to buy less than a yard!
Read on to see how it turned out!

 I could see no reason to take the old fabric off the stool….the more padding the better….right?

 I cut the piece with a generous overlap….trimmed the corners to make the mitering easier …….

 and got out my trusty air compressor and stapler…..

In less time than it took the Minnesota Vikings to fall apart and lose their lead in the first half
(as usual!!!)…..

My stool was fresh and beautiful again…..with a look that is more in keeping for fall and winter!

Alas….notice that the message board is still covered in the old fabric…..remember how I bought too much fabric?  Just enough to redo the message board too!
however….
it was Sunday afternoon, the game was over and I needed a nap
The redo of the message board had to wait a couple of days.

 So on to the message board redo!

The old message board was made from a Goodwill frame minus the glass.
It was pretty, but the ribbons were too wide and it always looked messy when I tucked in the stuff!

I decided to make a version with pockets instead of ribbons so that I can tuck in the coupons, invitations etc. .  Maybe that will look neater!

 So I took it all apart….and laughed when I remembered that this version was already a redo…the old fabric was still there.

I had wrapped the old fabric around a piece of foam core board cut to size with my trusty mat cutter.

I wanted the pockets to have some stability.
I cut strips of matboard….again with the mat cutter….it certainly earns it’s keep!

I used those strips to fold pockets….

To keep that stable I used a glue gun to attach the matboard strips to the fabric.

I made 3 pockets….2 deep ones and a shallow one at the top.

I simply glued, folded and ironed the pockets.

I left fabric on the edges to turn to the back of the foam core.


Once the pockets were done…I positioned it on the foam core and wrapped the edges around the foam core…..then laid the empty frame on top.

It took some pushing to get it into the frame…because the folded edges of the pockets made the edges pretty thick…but with a bit of stretching and pulling it went in…
The nice thing was that it was very secure….I didn’t need to do anything to keep it in the frame except tape the edges with wide painter’s tape.

 Then I put a piece of mat board…..again cut to size with the mat cutter…..hot glued the edge to make a clean back……

 And it was done…..This actually took about twice as long as recovering the stool….go figure!

I love the pockets!
I think it will stay much neater looking….but we shall see!

 Here is the finished desk area in the kitchen!
The reason it looks so neat and nice? …..my butt isn’t on the stool blogging away!
Guess you will have to use your imagination for that!

Cost…..less than $10
Time……2 hours
Value….hmmmmm…..priceless because it gave me something to think about other than the lousy Minnesota Vikings!
_________________________________________________

Linking To:
Saturday Showcase