No products in the cart.

Six Bar Stools on the Cheap – Final Cost $121

Bar stools are Un-American. Seriously. Before prohibition, you could only find bar stools at soda fountains. Here I am, an American who wanted bar stools without the normal $400+ price tag.

THE FIND : I picked up these iron and wood bar stools with vinyl cushions at a garage sale. They were price at $25 each and I picked them up for $20 each. I only needed four bar stools and they wanted to sell these as a set of six which was perfect.

Insider tip: When you’re buying a used set of items it’s always nice to snag an extra–especially if you want a matching set and you’re purchasing furniture. For example, there was one bar stool that was wobbly. Now I have extra hardware (from the extra bar stool) that I can use to make sure all the stools are in working order.

Another insider tip: Look for cushions that can be recovered easily without having to remove the original fabric. The cushions will keep their shape better, and you don’t have to pay for professional re-upholstery.

Prior to purchasing the bar stools, I inspected them and made sure that the seats detached easily so that I could recover the cushions myself. The other thing I noticed is that they were DIRTY!

I love neutral colored furniture with easy-to-recover cushions because then you can change them out multiple times depending on where you’re using the piece.

THE TRANSFORMATION: I took the bar stools home, attacked them with my screw gun, removed the seats and scrubbed them within an inch of their life. These bar stools were obviously used in the kitchen and rarely wiped down. There was enough food on them to stick small children to the seats permanently. Ice cream had dripped down the legs and jam was petrified under the armrests. I also had to scrub the seats and let them dry overnight because the leftovers would have attracted ants if I had just put my new fabric over them.

Reality Check: When you re-do garage sale finds, you have to be okay with vintage finishes. No matter how hard you try, there will be signs of wear that can’t be erased.

Although my plan is to repaint the iron, a lot of finish had been rubbed off and I wasn’t sure how well the paint would adhere in the long run. Also, we had to try several finishes to find a stain that would adhere to the back of the stools where the stain had been rubbed off, so it’s not perfect and I have to be okay with that.

The final step was to recover the seats with my new fabric and

my trusty staple gun. A few screws and the seats were back in place.

THE RESULTS: This bar stool project took about nine hours to complete with a final price-tag of $121. The fabric cost $9.20 for 2 yards and it took two cans of flat black spray paint. I used stain that I already owned and I have about 1/2 yard of fabric and 1/2 can of spray paint leftover to use on another project.

THE TAKE-AWAY: This makeover was totally worth the time and effort because I gained bar stools that are unique for a fraction of the price to buy the same old bar stools available at the chain furniture store.

Share your thoughts on garage sale makeovers in the comments below. Do you think it’s worth the time and effort to revive older furniture?