Changing and adapting furniture is a fun way to be creative and inventive.
A while ago I purchased a simple footstool similar to the one pictured below but it was never used for its intended purpose as it was so low to the ground.
With this in mind I decided to experiment in adapting it to be more suitable and comfortable for my purposes.
The first thing I needed to do was work out how it was assembled so I could sort out how to adapt it.
I discovered that the legs were attached by means of a long bolt embedded into each leg which screwed in to a matching threaded insert in the base of the stool.
Initially I intended to merely replace the legs with longer ones which would increase the height of the stool.
I sourced some ash poles and cut them to length. I then removed the bolts from the existing legs and re-embedded them into the ash pole legs. I then re-assembled the stool. This seemed to work effectively and I began to use my new improved stool.
I quickly discovered a fault. By lengthening the legs I had inadvertently changed the engineering of the stool and as such the new legs quickly shifted and distorted from the base of the stool. I realised that some type of re-enforcement was necessary.
I realised that the only way to add re-enforcement was to completely disassemble the stool completely and re-upholster it (The original fabric being old and worn this was something that needed doing eventually anyway.)
After unscrewing the legs and removing the fabric I was left with aplywood base, four ash legs and the foam pad.
I screwed the legs back to the base and added additional screw fixings from the top of the stool back into the legs to re-enforce the joins.
I then approached the re-upholstery section. I knew that using fabric would not be as practical as I could now no longer contain all the raw edges inside the stool.
I decided to use crochet to make a removable cover. I started by ,making a foundation chain whilst matching up hte proportions of the stool (which is rectangular) I then worked in dc (sc in US terms) around both sides of the foundation chain and adding stitches at each corner both to make the corners turn and to add stitches so the fabric would grow from the centre outwards forming a rectangle. Once the fabric was large enough to cover the top of the stool I then worked a row of blo (back loop only) dc stitches and continued for a few rows without any increasing. This formed the sides of the cover. Once the cover was long enough to cover the foam I worked a row of tr (dc in US terms) and finished the cover off with some scalloped edging and made some ties (by working a chain and slst my way back along the ch)I ran a piece of elastic through the tr (dc in US terms) row and then positioned the cover in place using the elastic and ties to secure the cover.
The finished piece is now much more practical and hard-wearing than it was previously although I don’t always get the chance to use it as the cats quiet like their new elevated sleeping stool!!
Pixie Creations 