Footstool Makeover Using a Coffee Sack
Hey friends, hope your week is going well! Don’t forget to check out the rest of the summertime tablescapes that went live today here (links are at the bottom). I am sharing this cute little foot stool makeover today. I snagged this baby for $3 at a garage sale. Isn’t it cute!? You can see what I did with the frames here, still working on the lazy susan!
Here’s the thing…upholstery can get expensive quickly. Even a little bit of fabric can cost a good amount, then add in the wood and foam you need to make a cushion and you can end up sinking way more into a little project than you intended! I used two money saving tips on this little makeover that can help you with similar projects like recovering seat chairs, stools and benches. 
Fixing the tattered wood was a necessity, I didn’t want to have to recover this stool in the same manner it obviously was done originally, that would have required a trim piece and I wanted a more updated look. I simply filled the holes with wood filler and sanded it smooth. 
I reapplied where needed and then covered the whole thing in black homemade chalky paint. 
The first cost saver I employed happen on the insides. This little stool came cushion-less, so I was going to need a hefty piece of foam to build up the stool. Y’all may think I am totally crazy, but I didn’t spend a dime. I was driving down the street and saw a tossed out sofa that seamed like it was in pretty decent shape, so I snagged a cushion off of it! I ripped off the zippered cover, cut down a foam piece to fit in my bench and washed it twice in the washing machine and dried it on the sanitize cycle. I figured if I ruined it, no harm done. Good as new and the best budget idea I’ve had in a while! Thick foam can cost you $20 sometimes! So before you throw out old cushion or pillows think about if you could reuse the insides. Don’t pass up those old sofa cushions at a garage sale, or event he dreaded curb! Money is laying there. 
The second thing I did was save TONS of money by using coffee grain sacks from a local coffee roasting company. I paid $2 each for a few sacks and have used them on multiple projects. They are large, so when you cut the seams out you still have a nice size piece of burlap type material to work with. The font is completely in style and often comes in a variety of colors, but black still goes with everything! Think about the unexpected fabric, sometimes you can find great fabric on a clearance shower curtain, old sheets or blankets. There are lots of cost saving choices for little projects like this. 
To put my two budget busters together I cut a piece of scrap wood to fit in the stool frame, layered the foam on top and wrapped it with the coffee sack material. It all got secured with my handy electric stapler. 
So, here is my $5 coffee sack covered stool that I love, I use it next to a chair I read in a good bit and propping up my legs is actually really nice on my back. Hope these little tips help you recover something fun you find without breaking the bank. There is nothing worse than getting buyers remorse when you get a hefty bill for recovering an inexpensive find! There are a few links below to some tools that might help you along…
Tools You Mind Find Useful:
Some of these are affiliate links, which means should you make a purchase I might receive a small commission, your price stays exactly the same.
Wood Filler – I like this one because it is easy to close so it doesn’t dry up!
Electric Stapler – This is the one I have
I love it!
thanks 🙂
I envy people who live in locations with businesses like coffee roasting companies ! I live in a small fishing village with a Sardine Packing Plant and can’t do much with those scraps ! lol Although I have recently started redoing my styling with a Coastal theme ! That makes me happy ! I love your redo on the stool ! Love that Chalk painting ! 🙂
oh – I bet you have some amazing treasures in your village! There are great things waiting to be used everywhere! I love coastal décor, I bet your place is wonderful and as long as it makes you happy, that is the most important!
Been waiting’ for this! I love it, the free cushion and interesting burlap with the chalky paint make a great combo….LOVE IT!
I thought of you when I posted it! so glad you like it and thank you for being excited about the little things like I am 🙂 kindred spirits!
So darn cute and I love the reduce, reuse, recycle concept!!
well and we both love coffee so there’s that lol!!!
Love it!
yay, thanks!!!
It’s extremely charming. I recently got a chair, $5, and have stripped it down. It’s partly filled w horsehair! Guess the chair is 1915. I washed the hair and will reuse it in the chair. Turns out that stuff is $60 a pound. Love your things, God bless.
wow – horse hair chairs are oldies, you got a good one and I am so impressed you were able to salvage the hair to re-use, I’d love to see it when you are done! Send a picture!
My word you are a busy person, i love your stool you did a great job, really nice piece and everybody will notice it, when they come to visit.
thanks Marlene, my mom helped some with this one so that was super helpful! Hope you are having a great summer!
How awesome! I want a coffee bag lol. My husband and I went on a trip to Pensacola beach. He took me to a coffee barre in Pensacola,downtown. They had a old espresso machine. I didn’t see any bags though lol. You are very talented. I love to make something out of nothing and bring it back to awesome. Keep up the good works. Sincerely thankful I get your emails, Teresa
We lived in Pensacola for a while, my oldest son was actually born there! There are some great places there. Sometimes you have to ask about the bags, this place keeps them in the back, I just know to ask! so glad to have you here!
This Teresa lives across the state line basically from Pensacola. When we moved to Elberta/Josephine area we moved my mother to Homestead Village on Pine Forest in Pensacola. I so enjoyed my trips to visit her there having her live near me for the first time. Love Pensacola.
It is a great town, and surrounded by so many great little towns!
Oh my, we have a stool so similar that was in my husband’s family. In a flood a few years ago it got wet so we took it apart and the stuffing was old antique quilt pieces. We carefully washed and saved them. I have the stool and have wondered what to do with it. I even have old coffee bags. Thank you so much for this idea. Priceless to us!
yay – how awesome, pieces like this are fun to find, but when you find people with similar ones it’s even better! Send a pic once you get your done!
Love this stool!
thank you Barbara!
I love that you added a thick padding to the foot stool. They’re perfect for kids to sit on that way. It’s adorable! So you don’t sew? There are so many ways around that. I sew have been for 45 years. In Junior high I never thought I’d touch it again after the 2 projects to get me out of that class. But went back to it when my daughter was little and taught myself my way.
Things to look for at a thrift store or garage/estate sales. Clothes that have quilting on them, huge thing in the 70s. Yes I know you are way to young to know that. Look through all of the linens, most are not what you want but every once in a while you’ll find something great. I bought a quilt top that someone had made in the 30s and never finished. Parts were in really bad condition, which is probably why they never finished it. But I could get enough fabric from that bad area to make an octagon quilt, and a striped quilt for my daughters doll house. It’s in storage until she has a daughter. Maybe the next baby. The rest of the quilt top I’ll hold on to until I find the perfect way to use it. Nothing in our world should ever go unused, it’s all God’s gifts to us
God’s blessings to you
Hi Jennie – I am not to young to remember that! I love to repurpose anything and everything! I don’t sew likely because my mom is so amazing at it and I always have had her to do it for me, bad excuse! My daughter is learning some from my mom so that makes me happy! Love all your fun ideas!
This turned out really cute, and I love the money-saving tips. I did wonder , though, if you could explain how you attached the cushion and the board it is on to the footstool? TIA.
thank you and sorry I left that part out! I cut a piece of wood to fit in the stool with a little extra room. Then I placed the cushion on the piece of wood and wrapped it with the sack material, stapling it to the underside of the wood. Then it fit down in the stool. Hope that makes sense and helps!