Upcycling for Good

Paint a kids stool

Take two well-loved preschool stools and revive them with a fun and sweet-themed makeover!

Resene upcycling for good with Sarah Herring - Project 45

Painted donut kids stool
Finished project

You will need: Filler and Allen Key or Screwdriver (If repair work is needed), testpot and detail brushes, painter’s masking tape and scissors, Resene Quick Dry primer sealer undercoat, Resene Testpots of your choice, Sarah used Resene Turkish Delight, Resene Vanilla Ice, Resene Calico, Resene Milk Chocolate, Resene Freelance, Resene Rapture and Resene Witch Haze (for the sprinkles).

Top tip: For a glitter donut effect use touches of Resene FX Metallic in your favourite Resene metallic colour.

Painted stool before
Before
Finished project
Finished project
Painted kids stool
Finished project
 
Step 1 Step one
Always check old furniture items for any repairs that are needed. Sarah tightened up all the screws on these stools, sanded them, and then applied filler to patch up the areas where the timber had broken off and splintered away. After the filler had set and dried, Sarah sanded the stools again to get an even surface for painting.
Step 2 Step two
Once the stools were completely prepped for painting, apply one coat of Resene Quick Dry primer sealer undercoat to all surfaces with a testpot brush.

Step 3 Step three
Apply two coats of the chosen base colour for the stool using a testpot brush. Sarah used Resene Turkish Delight. Always ensure the first coat of paint is totally dry before applying the second!

You might notice Sarah went for a sweet theme not just with the design but with the paint colours too!

Step 4 Step four
Once the base colour is dry, apply two coats of your second colour to the seats of the stools. Sarah used Resene Vanilla Ice, as she loves how this works with Resene Turkish Delight.

Step 5 Step five
Using circle stencils (or you could use a compass) as a guide, draw a donut shape on top of each stool with a pencil. Once you are happy with the shape, mask around the edges using painter’s tape so you have two donut shapes ready to paint. Paint the two donuts with two coats of Resene Calico.

There is a trick Sarah likes to use when masking out circular shapes. Make small scissor cuts along the masking tape in order to be able to curve the tape around the circular edge. It works very well, just make sure you cover all the open gaps with extra tape so paint doesn’t sneak in there.

Step 6 Step six
Apply two coats of Resene Milk Chocolate (how perfect is that colour for a donut theme?) in an icing shape on top of each donut using a small detail brush to get the wobbly outline just right. Once dry, carefully remove all the masking tape and finish the artwork off by painting bright coloured ‘sprinkles’ using Resene Freelance, Resene Rapture and Resene Witch Haze, but of course you could use any fun and vibrant colours for this part!

And there you have it, two previously very worn out and damaged preschool stools have been transformed into sweet-themed donut seats for lots more kids to enjoy. Sometimes the oldest and most worn-out items can surprise you with their transformations! Before you throw something like this on the scrapheap, think about what a little TLC and some Resene paint could do.