What should have been a quick and easy makeover of thie mid centuty wooden stool, turned into a two-day affair. But the end-result was well worth the effort for a piece of furniture which has been in the family for decades!
A Simple Mid Century Furniture Makeover – Not!
This has to be the most frustrating project I have ever tackled! Just look at it – all simple and shy! And it was saying to me “come and make me over, I am just a humble little bench.”
Never have more false words been spoken! Because sometimes things may look simple but they are not! And so, this is the tale of the not so simple transformation of a bench. A Mid-Century Modern bench at that!
Now I have done MCM transformations before, but this one was a piece of work! Literally!
First of all I could not tell if it was a stool or an ottoman or even a bench. Apparently, there is some sort of difference.
It turns out that stools or footstools are just that, used to rest your feet. They are lower than ottomans. Whereas ottomans can actually double as seating. You can see by my photo that this thing here has pretty high legs and is actually very good as a seat, so it is now officially going to be called an ottoman??
Hmmm or is it a small bench?
What I used:
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- Sandpaper
- Hand sander
- Americana Creme Wax in clear
- Americana Dazzling Metallic acrylic paint in black pearl
- brush
The How to:
My original thinking was that I would freshen up the legs by getting rid of all that cherry colored stain. And because I have a color scheme in mind for this room, I wanted to repaint that blue vinyl piping and make it gray. A half an hour job at most!
That was my original thinking.
But what ensued was another story altogether.
I started to sand the first leg and a half an hour later I was still at it. What? This whole project was supposed to take me half an hour! Not just the leg!
The next day I had to move the whole project to the back yard. This time I borrowed my dad’s Black and Decker sander. Guess what? I ended up burning the rubber off half the bottom of the sander. That is not a good sign is it?
Was I using the wrong number sand paper?
After another half an hour of fighting with a hand sander I gave up and took a trip to the Home Depot where I purchased this. I am not getting paid to promote it, I just saw that it had good reviews on Amazon so I bought it.
See here the power of this one? It took out all that stubborn stain and blew dirt and sand all over the place! Boy was I feeling powerful after those hours of sweat and toil!
Finally, after more sweat and toil, I was finished. It turns out the legs are made like this where the wood has a degradation. If I continued to sand I would not have removed the darker color, I would just have ended up with a weirdly shaped leg.
I went over it with creme wax to protect that naked wood and I was finally finished with those legs. It could not have ended soon enough! My arms are still hurting from trying to do it manually! But they sure have a pretty honey color now!
The next and much easier step was to paint the vinyl piping going across the bottom of the white upholstery.
I chose black pearl metallic acrylic paint. It really doesn’t look black at all but more like smoky gray. I just stuck a piece of paper behind the piping and painted so as not to get the paint on the white.
And here she is, my refnished mid century “excuse my French” ottoman/stool/bench!! The one that was supposed to take a half an hour to do and ended up two days of work.
Of course, now that you have seen my “why take the easy way when you can make things hard on yourself” method, you will know to use a sander right away and also to use the appropriate sandpaper. Not like me!!
Now that it’s done and sitting pretty I can say that I have learned my lesson.
Never underestimate a simple looking piece of furniture!
Below you can see the before and after together in one shot. It is a subtle difference but still worth the effort in my opinion.
This one happens to be an original from the sixties. Yes, it too was one of my dad’s treasures but he did not treat it that well, did he?
In fact I have only seen one other that resembles it here.
It is far from perfect, see how the edge of the vinyl upholstery has been misshaped from all the years of use. I could have thrown it out but there is something beautiful in those lines. And who can resist those legs?
And that is my exasperating story of the not so simple transformation of a bench.
Now tell me truthfully, what is this piece of furniture called? Bench, Stool or Ottoman??
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frankly i think you put WAY too much work into this project . . . it’s not a stool; not a bench; not an ottoman. it looks like it began life as a chair. it has now had the back removed; the legs switched out from their original format; and a reinforcing brace added under the seat. so you’ve begun its third reincarnation as ?. it’s too tall and off square and level to be a stool; way too narrow (i.e. short horizontally) to be a bench; and definitely doesn’t resemble an ottoman. if it belonged to me i would put a metal tray on it and use it as a plant stand.
Janice sometimes we take on a project as a challenge, sometimes it is for the love of the item. In my case, it started out as the latter and turned into the former. I had this bench sitting in my room for months and had grown very fond of it. Of course once I started it I was hitting my head on the wall but of course in the end I saw it as a challenge.
In the end I was able to preserve its charm and now use it as a resting place for my things at the foot of the bed.
Girl, when You said “FRUSTRATED” I thought, If she is has a frustrating project then something is bad wrong! LOL! You always make things look so stinking easy. Ha! I have me one of those sanders and it is my best friend. Mercy it saves lots of times. Of course in some of the very small areas on a project I still have to use the old hand style sandpaper way. It turned out lovely and your hard work paid off. Hugs and blessings, Cindy
Cindy that is so true, I may get lazy once in a while but I never ever get frustrated. This one took the cake!
Let it be what ever you like, ottoman, bench, stool, you name it! It turned out gorgeous Mary! I love that metallic stripe you painted, it is a real unique piece now and looks great in any room I think!
I was determined to save it no matter what. And I agree Katrin that metallic color really adds a little something extra.
Oh dear, poor Mary! But it does look much better now!
Thank goodness Marjan, my arms got a real workout. Hah!!
I am guessing a stool! But whether it’s a stool/bench/ottoman it turned out beautifully. Glad you got a sander, it does make sanding so much easier.
I had no idea just how much I needed it till I got it Linda.
Determination is your middle name, Mary! To me it looks like an MCM stool but would also make a way cool retro plant stand (oh right, the brown thumb thing, never mind).
Haha, I’m glad you came to your senses there Marie! I think it looks elegant at the foot of my bed holding my robe. End of store, no matter what it is called.
I think it may be a bench. But whatever you want to call it all of your hard work paid off. It looks fabulous!
Thank you so much Debra, I needed to hear that after all that sweat and toil!
I think you did a great job! I can definitely relate to the “quick” job that seems to take forever. Everything I do takes way longer than I could ever imagine it will! I think I always do things the hard way too but, I never seem to learn from my mistakes! Anyway, if it turns out like you want it to, that’s all that matters! Thanks for sharing your projects with us!
Thank you Cathy for your sweet comment and for your encouragement. I am very happy after all those hours. Why I think I must have more upper arm strength now!
Job well done. I much rather the projects that turn out to surprisingly easy.
So do I but sometimes we just have no idea what will happen till we start on something.
What ever you call it, it is wonderful and I love the look! Sorry it was such a headache but it turned out wonderful!
Thank you Cheryl. I guess in the end we need to suffer to get what we want. All good things come from hard work right?
I think it’s an otto-mary-man with an attitude 😉 and it was worth all the time and effort you put into sanding those legs. Good for you for not giving up Mary
Haha! It certainly has an attitude that is for sure Michelle. And to think a few legs could be so difficult!
I love the new legs. Much much better. And the black color you chose makes both the legs and the white leather pop! To be honest, i love sanders! I feel i can conquer the world while working with one!
Thank you Zografia. My dad’s basement is full of mid century treasures. That means there is lots more sanding in my future. You have empowered me! 😉
Persistence paid off in the end. It’s quite a cute bench/stool/ottoman now Mary. See, I don’t know what to call it either.
Haha. It seems we are all clueless. Maybe I have stumbled onto something new and original. Florence I would have thought you with all of your extensive knowledge would have come across something like this before at an estate sale.
This bench has beautiful lines… it is really a treasure by itsself but you made it shine! My friend you have the gift to discover hidden treasures and bring them to life!
Christina the only problem now is that I see a hidden treasure in Everything I look at. This is very bad because I don’t have so much room for all these treasures.
Score. This is a total win.
You mean all those aches and pains paid off? Yay!! Thanks Michele.
I think it’s a stool. Here in the UK at least an Ottoman is a box with a lid you can lift and store things in, the kind if thing you’d have at the end of a bed.
And then a bench would need to be big enough for more than one person to sit on wouldn’t it?
Potato pertartoe! It looks so much better so worth the effort.
I really have no idea at this point Julie. I was on Google researching for quite a while and ended up scratching my head at the end. Whatever it is it is now sitting at the foot of my bed and holding my robe so it is serving some purpose.
Isn’t it crazy how something that looks easy isn’t? I have a small ottomon out in our garage calling my name for a makeover. Why do I not answer? lol! Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
Jann this was the hardest project for me and I think it was psychological. Because I expected it to be easy, it then felt that much harder. Answer your ottoman Jan, you will not regret it! 😉
These are the kind of projects I refer to as “what was I thinking?” projects 😉 Thanks for keeping it real and sharing at Vintage Charm!
That is exactly what this was Cecilia. Sometimes you need to learn a few lessons so that hopefully you don’t repeat them again!
MARY
I HAVE A REAL GOOD IDEA. I THINK YOU SHOULD MOVE IN WITH US AND WORK ON MY PROJECTS I HAVE WAY TOO MANY AND YOU ARE FULL OF GREAT IDEAS AND ENERGY’
WHEN ARE YOU COMMING?
BABA
Energy? Baba I am all out of energy after this one! But I could come for a visit and you’d make me a nice meal! That I would enjoy!
Isn’t that always the way, Mary? The ones you think are going to be easy are the most troublesome, the ones you think will be a huge hit, flop and the ones you think, eh, who will like this, rocket to the top! Looks lovely though!!
Yes Kim that is exactly how it goes. That really says a lot about our powers of prediction doesn’t it?