Office Stool to Bistro Seating

With this being a long weekend, I lost track of the days and just realized I should be posting. How was your weekend? We packed in quite a lot - Tom built a railing for his parents' porch, we went bike riding, took a quick trip to Ikea (details later), delivered a vehicle, and visited with relatives. Today we rearranged the family room furniture, and then moved it all back where it started because it looked better before.

Whew! Plus today is our 7-year anniversary! We aren't really doing anything to celebrate today - in a couple of weeks we're going to Pennsylvania for an extended weekend so we'll celebrate then. Tom asked me this afternoon if I was ready to relax for a bit. My answer? "What's that?" Yeah, I have trouble sitting still.

I tried out some more freezer paper transfers this past week, but this time on wood. I have a little wooden stool that's been sitting in the corner of the craft room for years just waiting to be refinished. I forgot to take a before picture, but it looks something like this, except much more beat up.

target.com

I was just going to repaint the legs white, but at the last minute decided my craft room needed a pop of colour, so I looked over the colours I had on hand and chose a medium yellow.

I taped a plastic bag around the seat to keep it the natural wood colour and gave the legs a few coats of paint.

Once it was all dry, I quickly stained the seat with Rustoleum's Special Walnut. I just wipe it on with a cloth and then wipe it off again. That way I can control how deep the colour gets. Once the stain was dry I wiped on a few coats of watered down taupe paint, the same as I used here, here, and here. This gives the wood a greyish, aged look - without having to leave it out in the rain and sun for a month.

I found a graphic on line - this time a French charcuterie image that is quite popular. I edited the colours and then flipped the image in reverse and printed it on freezer paper. For a more in-depth tutorial, click here.

The only thing that is different when you're transferring to wood is that you don't have to dampen the surface first like you do with fabric. I learned this the hard way and had to wipe the first attempt off and start again. You just need to carefully place the image face down and rub the back of the paper all over to get an even transfer. Once the image had dried, I sealed it with several coats of matte acrylic coating.

What do you think? Don't you think it's something you might see in a bistro or coffee shop? I like that the colours are soft and the writing is muted, while still standing out from the otherwise neutral room.

Have you taken the freezer paper plunge yet?

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I'm linking up here this week!