How the Old & Ugly Stool Turned into an Industrial Side Table

I don’t know about you, I’m totally in love with old furniture pieces. Every time I find one, I can’t help thinking about a million ways to make it look pretty again.

And here’s my latest DIY adventure, with an ancient stool that turned into a…

Ooooohh, wait, I wont tell you so quickly! Read the whole article and see by yourself! 

Let’s start with the beginning, namely a 50 years old handmade stool that my husband’s grandfather forged with his own hands. I found it under a pile of stuff at my parents-in-law, and nobody seemed to care about its age or potential. The legs were rusted, and the wooden seat has curved after facing rains and wind while left outdoors.  

I suddenly fell in love with its metal legs – so much that I could even project in mind mind his new appearance in black & wood, a lovely piece of furniture in industrial style. Good thing I have a big stash of wood scraps, because I found exactly what I needed for my DIY project: a few pieces of wood boards in same width (1-in). They were scraps, so they came in different lengths, but that was an easy fix, believe me!

What else did I use for this project beside a few wooden boards?

• sand paper for sanding the wood, 
• wood screws (1,5 to 1,8-in length),
• black paint for the legs
• waterbased varnish (for the wood panel),
• a drill,
• a cutting tool (a hand saw would be great)
• a carpentry square, for marking the angles and cut the frame correctly.  

If you didn’t get it yet, let me tell you what was the purpose of this project: a side table to use in my garden. And I’ve reached my goal. I even overachieved since I like this table so much that I will use it indoor, in a very personal space.  

Let’s Do It!  

I had to cut off the old wooden seat, in order to replace it with a wood panel. Since I was using reclaimed wood, I could hardly find two pieces with the same color, but it really didn’t bother me. On the contrary: the board looked perfectly together in different shades of natural beige. They were sanded by my hubby, and prepared for the next step.   

I used a few boards with a minimum length of 20-in, aligned them and fixed them with a transversal board and screws.   

I told you that the boards had different lengths, and it was an easy fix, didn’t I? It took five minutes, another transversal board and one straight cut to have my wood panel almost ready.

Something was still missing… A frame! I made one from 4 pieces of wood board 2-in wide. My hubby cut the corners at 45 degree angles (here’s where the carpentry square turns out to be useful) so they would fit nicely together.

Painting comes next. I sanded and painted the legs black using special paint that prevents metal from rusting. For wood, I had some 3 in 1 varnish, a leftover from one of my previous DIY projects.

Once the legs and the panel have been painted and are well dried, I’ve assembled them and got the side table I’ve projected from the start.

Finally…

…I got my new side table. Wanna see how it looks?

Not sure about its fate right now, but leaving it outside is not an option any longer. I might introduce it to a few other dear items that I’m planning to have in my workshop.

…And my cup of coffee and the favorite book fit perfectly on it. 

Is there something else that I could have done with this old stool? Should I improve this projects one way or another? What do you think? I’ll be happy to read your thoughts in a comment below!