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Thursday, July 1, 2010

A Frenchy Little Footstool

I can say about 6 things in French – one of those phrases being, “I can’t speak French.”

In high school I took Spanish because I could never get all those nasally sounds to come out of my mouth the right way. (Although it did come in handy on my Mexican honeymoon and a mission trip to the Dominican Republic!)

All the cool kids at my high school took French, just in case anyone was wondering.

In college, as a choral music education major, I had to sing a number of French pieces for juries and recitals. I always dreaded the French pieces. It’s just not my language of choice or ability. It made me sweat. A lot.

However, just because I can’t speak the language doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the way it looks and sounds! So this is a quick post to show you how I very cheaply and very amateurly married my fabulous Waverly fabric that I got for $.08:

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With a yard-sale footstool that cost me $1…..

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To bring me this:

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Isn’t she lovely? I didn’t take a lot of pictures because a) the first part is self-explanatory and b) the second part was too hard to hold a camera with one hand while still crafting.

So I will tell you that a) I painted it with leftover ceiling/trim paint (Valspar’s Swiss Coffee), sanded it with my sanding block to make it look aged, then b) just cut fabric and tucked and hot-glued and tucked some more until I got it to look the way I wanted. I have no idea how to upholster and probably wouldn’t have the patience for it even if I did. There was just a lot of trial and error and pulling and tugging at the fabric. :)

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It is not perfect but I try to remember what The Nester says about it not having to be perfect to be beautiful. There is one flaw on the stool and I considered showing you but then Chris said he couldn’t see it until I showed him so I decided to get over my need to always point out the imperfections in what I make and not show everyone.

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I am in love with this thing.

She’s short, squat, cute and French. I feel like I should call her Claudette or something.

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For a short girl like me, this saves my hubs a lot of calls into the kitchen to get me things off the top shelves. She’s a worker, my little footstool.

J’aime Claudette! :)

Linked to:
Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Chic Cottage
Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest
Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous
Weekend Showcase @ Tatertots and Jello
Sunday Showcase @ Under the Table and Dreaming
Make it Yours Day @ My Backyard Eden
Penny Pinching Party @ The Thrifty Home
Show Us What You're Workin' With @ Me and My Bucket

29 comments:

  1. I love the fabric!!! The footstool turned out great, good job!

    PS. Thanks for the encouragement with CIO, we had an awesome night last night!!

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  2. Wow! $1.08? are you kidding me?!! I am in awe - I love it!!! You did a fantastic job : )

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  3. What a great find and deal!!! It looks awesome!

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  4. I love that fabric. I've been looking for something similar to do some pillows with. Your project turned out great!

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  5. C'est fantastique! J'adore Collette! On peut parler le francais ensemble quand tu retours au Connecticut! YIPPEE! *wink*

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  6. Wow! That little footstool turned out soo adorable! I love it!

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  7. I love it! Love the fabric so much, what a great find. I do the same thing with pointing out my mistake. I need to cut it out! So do you cause it looks fabulous!

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  8. Great job! I love it. Love that you were quoting the Nester in your head, ha! Isn't she great:-) Visiting from NFF and a new follower. I love faith filled blogs and looking forward to your next post-

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  9. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today! I love that little stool. I have soo many things I would like to recover but don't know how! I will have to read more on your blog, and learn!

    I am now following you! If you get a chance and like my blog, follow back!

    Melissa

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  10. I love the stool re-do! It looks great. :)

    I'm a bit of a language lover myself. I took a year of Spanish in MS, 8 years of French (HS & college - I actually have my BA in French, haha) & 5 years of German (1 year in HS, the rest in college). But French is my all-time favorite language. I love everything about it from the way the words are spelled to the way it sounds. Trust me - it gets much easier to speak with practice!

    (visiting from nff)

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  11. What a great job you did! I'm far from crafty, but I'm so excited when I try something and it turns out well.

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  12. J'aime Claudette too!! I took French in high school but don't remember as much as I should. My daughter is taking it now and is pretty French obsessed. We'll practice our French in Montreal soon.
    Stopping over from Weekend Wrapup party.

    heather

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  13. Fantastic! it looks great or tres chic - I think

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  14. It looks great! And oh my goodness, I am in love with that fabric!!

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  15. Great deal on your little stool! It looks really good with that fabric too. :)

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  16. Ooooo, Jessica this is GORGEOUS!!! It is the perfect little bit of french for the house, and you can pretend when company is over that the stool holds a few of your favorite phrases, or something like that. :)

    I'm with you on always seeing the flaws, I'm always tempted to say something like, "I love this thing, but look at how crooked it is on this side." Here's to embracing the flaws and loving them!!

    Erin

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  17. This is so cute! That's so funny you name your furniture make-overs! I do to and my husband thinks I'm crazy! Sometimes they're just so pretty you have too!

    Megan

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  18. Well I think your footstool turned out just wonderfully! And for $1.08 total? That's something to be proud of!! :) You did a great job!

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  19. that is too adorable! great job revamping your little french pretty

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  20. My house is all about French Country, so I am IN LOVE with that fabric! The stool came out great!

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  21. I am just now getting around to commenting on all 500 posts i have saved in my reader! AHH! I love this bench and think you did a great job on it! I love the french!

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  22. I may have missed this somewhere, but where is the fabric from? Thanks, beautiful job!

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    1. It's a Waverly fabric I got at a yard sale. But I know the print does say something about a garden (according to one of my smart readers) - so maybe that can help?

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