Giant Wooden Spool Chair

D.I.Y- Giant Wooden Spool Chair

My neighbor left three large wooden spools on the curb yesterday. Lucky me! I only took two because one was rusted, and the boys across the street wanted one to use as a table in their backyard. Seemed fair to me!

When I saw the spools I knew I wanted to make a chair and off I went off to the local fabric store where I bought some staples and clearance fabric (1 1/4 yard, to be exact). I already had a few supplies on hand: a staple gun, black gloss paint, a paint roller and sand paper, which made this project fairly inexpensive. 

On my way home from the fabric store I stopped at the dollar store to buy one of those cushioned foam covers for a bed. They didn't have a queen size so I bought two twin sized ones. Actually, I bought one and had to go back for the second when I realized one would not be enough padding.

Once I got home, I started sanding the spool with 150 grit sandpaper to take off the rough edges. I gave the rest of it a nice once over to make sure my paint would adhere. Next, I used my tiny roller and started painting.

I used the sander to keep the spool from rolling down the driveway

It was 100 degrees outside so the paint dried quickly and I was able to add several coats. I didn't paint the bottom or the top of the spool because I knew it wouldn't be seen. There are slats and nail holes so I had to use a small paint brush to get to those hard to reach areas that my roller couldn't.

For the seat, I folded the twin sized foam in half and cut it the diameter of the spool top. I realized that there wasn't enough padding and that's when I ran back to the dollar store and bought the second one.

This time I decided I needed to make the cut bigger so it would cover the edge because I didn't want bare wood under the fabric. I cut it about two inches wider — I didn't take a photo.

Once I was set, I put my fabric on top and started to staple, but not before I figured out I had bought the wrong size staples. Instead of returning them to the store I went to a neighbor and luckily they had the right size staple gun for my stapling needs.

As I started to staple I realized the way I was doing it wasn't going to work because I had the spool right-side up and was blindly stapling. I didn't want to accidentally to staple a finger so I flipped it upside down. Then, I double checked the fabric to make sure it was taut and then I started stretching, folding and stapling.

The raw edges—not pretty

Halfway around I saw the raw edges and knew I needed to make it "professional looking," so I started popping staples and folding the raw edge under.. After re-stapling the whole thing, I hammered all the staples to be sure they were secure. 

Clean edges—very nice

You can see my folds are spaced evenly and folded the same direction... This is key to a good looking finish (it doesn't really matter though because no one will see it).

Here is the final product. I am very pleased with it. I have never upholstered anything before this, but many years ago my Grammy told that it was fairly easy to do. I'm glad I finally tried it out!

Trash to Treasure, baby!

xx Tyna xx