DIY Bar Stools

This has been a project long in the making. I tend to have really good ideas for DIY projects and then it takes me FOREVER to implement them. Working full time as a teacher exhausts me and by the time I get home, I just want to relax. But alas, I have finished this project and I couldn't be more happy with the result.

I started with some simple beech maple bar stools from Walmart. They were bare and didn't match a thing in our house. I got them from the Mr.'s mom and knew almost immediately how to make them fit in our home.

Unfortunately I did not take a before picture so here is the picture from Walmart.com.

Bar Stools Here

We have some aluminum chairs at our kitchen table and I knew I wanted to incorporate that look in the stools, so off I went to Ace Hardware. I found some rust-oleum spray paint that fit the image I had in mind and went straight home to begin. It has a hammered metal look to it and I just love how this turned out.

Rust-oleum Hammered Gray Here

Next, I had to change the seats. I decided that I wanted to stain them with the stain that I have been using on every DIY project in our house. I love the rustic and driftwood look of the combination of these two stains. Before I could do that, though, I needed to strip the current stain and lacquer off. Let me tell you, that was a pain in my (you know what). I stripped it 3, count them, THREE times and that still was not enough. Walmart is not kidding around with their lacquer. I finally gave up, because I was just too excited to get to the final product. Here are the my go to stains of the moment:

Minwax Wood Finish Special Walnut Here

Minwax Wood Finish Classic Gray Here

As you can see, these stains have had their fair share of use. And let me tell you, a little goes a long way. I have been using these two quart size cans for almost 2 years now and I still have about half the container.

When staining the seats I put down one coat of the Special Walnut and let it sit for 15-20 minutes, then wiped it off. I repeated this step about three times until it was as dark as I wanted. After that dried, I put one coat of the classic gray on and let that sit for 15-20 minutes. With the gray, I didn't wipe it completely off. I wanted it to have a gray driftwood feel and this did just that. 

Lastly, I put three coats of a polyurethane satin top coat on to seal them. We had left over General Finishes top coat (which I love) from when we stained our cabinets, but I have also used Minwax Satin Polycrylic Protective Finish in the past and it works just as well. 

General Finishes High Performance Satin Here

I absolutely love the finished product and the Mr. was even impressed with how they fit in so nicely in our kitchen. Our house is coming along nicely. Here is the finished product.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Until next time!