Bar Stool Make Over

A couple of months ago my boyfriend was complaining that he didn't have any bar stools for his apartment. Conveniently, I had some to give to him. He was less than thrilled when he saw what they looked like.

   

The picture on the left is one of the stools before its transformation. They are fairly girly. The one on the right is me and Middleton. I looked for a serious picture of the two of us and couldn't find one, so I went with my favorite picture.

The bar stools used to have roosters on the top. When we redecorated our apartment I modge podged this paper on the top of the stools. It was really easy. I just bought the paper traced the circle of the bar stool on the paper, cut it out and modge podged it to the top. 

I spent a few weeks trying to come up with a way to make the stools more masculine. This is what I came up with:

Supplies:
Bar stools
Liquid nail
Nylon rope
Lighter
Tape
Scissors
Gloves
Caulk gun
Popsicle stick
Spray sealant

1. Take the end of the nylon rope and wrap it into a small coil.

2. Squirt some of the liquid nail into the center of the bar stool and spread it out. I used a popsicle stick to spread out the liquid nail.
3. Place the coil onto the liquid nail. 

4. Continue to spread more liquid nail and wrap the coil. Make sure you are using a very thin layer of liquid nail, otherwise it will show through the rope. If it does show through the rope take a tooth pick and pick it out. If you use a cloth to try and wipe it out, it just spreads the liquid nail and discolors the rope.

5. Once you have wrapped the entire top of the stool you can press the rope with your finger tips and spread it to the edges.

6. To end the rope coil, first tape the end of the rope. If you don't, the coil will unravel really quickly when you cut it. Cut the rope slightly past the end of the tape. Once you have cut the rope, take your lighter and burn the ends. Once it sticks together tuck the end of the rope under the last layer of the coil. If it sticks up a little too much you can take a hammer and gently pound it in order to flatten it out a bit. You may want to add some more liquid nail where you are tucking the rope to make sure it stays put.

7. Finally, spray the tops of the stools with a sealant in order to protect them from water and food spills.

 This is a picture of the bag the rope came in. I used nylon rope because I thought it would be easier to clean, and not so itchy on your bum if you have on shorts.

I chose to use the extra strength liquid nail. When I was at the hardware store the man helping me said he would use the extra strength just because there would be a good bit of movement and weight on the stools.

Cost:
Bar stools- I already had them so they didn't cost me anything. You could probably find some at a garage sale.
Nylon rope- $15 I bought a 100ft rope and it was the perfect amount to cover two stools
Liquid nail- Extra strength  is around $6 . I think regular strength costs about $3.
My dad had a caulk gun so I didn't have to buy that either. Over all I spent a little over $20, not too bad!!

Tips:
1. Wear gloves. It's three days later and I am still trying to get the liquid nail off my hands.
2.When you cut off the tip of the liquid nail make it a fairly wide opening. The liquid nail is very thick and it took all of my strength to get the stuff to squeeze out of the tube.
3. Be sure when you lay the liquid nail down while you are coiling the rope, you lay it on newspaper. It will still come out of the tube even after you stop squeezing and you don't want it to end up on your table.
4. When you are finished, if you have some liquid nail left and want to save it, simply place a screw in the end of the opening. When you use it again simply take a screw driver and unscrew it.


This post is dedicated to my dear friend, Zack. A few years back he gave my roommate and me the bar stools. They have worked in three different apartments now. Zack just graduated and will be starting graduate school in the Fall.