A Cute Footstool with Storage Gets a New Look

A couple of months ago a large tree fell in my back yard, gently laying itself down across the length of the yard.

 

I’m beginning to think I may have a tree jinx going on because I was on the porch a few days ago and discovered this below! In talking with my neighbors and others in this area, I learned that we had a big storm with 70 mph winds come through about a week before I returned home from Morocco. It took down a lot of trees all over the metro Atlanta area.

I called five tree companies and only two got back to me. I guess the others are all still busy with the jobs involving multiple trees. The leaning tree below was being taken down today and it, along with the other tree, were cut up and hauled away.

I love having trees in my backyard but I’m starting to wonder if living in an open field would be more preferable. Seriously! At least the trees keep falling away from my home and not on it. (Knock on wood.)

 

So my day was mostly tied up with tree stuff today.

 

I did manage to get the nesting materials hung up yesterday, and I think the birds may be using it because I noticed some of the white nesting material sticking out of it today.

 

A Little Project

I’m still waking up really early these days but I’m kinda enjoying it. The world is so quite at that time of day, and I find I’m getting a good bit done before the day even begins. One little project I checked off was recovering a little stool that I keep underneath my desk. You can just see it in the photo below. I enjoy propping my feet on it when working at my desk during the day. (Short people problems!)

 

When I purchased it, I knew then that I’d be recovering it one day. White fabric is just not the most practical choice for a footstool! It does come in other colors and with other (patterned) fabrics, but I wanted the white-painted version since my furniture in the office is a soft white. Unfortunately the white footstool only came in the off-white fabric.

 

To cover it, I used some of the denim fabric that was left over from when I had denim cushions made for the upstairs family room window seats many years ago. The sofa in that room was custom ordered and made by Highland House. I chose one of their heavy denim fabrics when I ordered it. My son was only around 8-9 years old at the time and I knew denim would stand up to kids horsing around in that room. He and his friends played in this room a lot and the window seats worked great for storing board games and toys.

 

Even the two little dormer windows were/are dressed in denim.

 

To cover the footstool, I didn’t bother removing the old fabric. It was stapled on very tightly and would have been a bear to remove, so I just covered over it. I think this denim fabric will hold up for quite a while, but if needed I can recover it again.

 

I love how this little footstool has a bit of storage space built in, although I haven’t thought of anything to store there, yet. It would be a great place to hide remotes in a family room, wouldn’t it? Or, maybe kitty toys. If used in front of a cozy reading chair, it would be a great place to stow away a good book.

Update: Just figured out a good thing to store inside my footstool: the trash bags I used in the waste basket that I keep under my desk. Why hadn’t I thought of that before! It’s literally a foot away from the basket, so that’s perfect!

 

This footstool comes in other colors, including black. If you’re in need of a footstool, you’ll find it here: Footstool.

 

Tomorrow I’ll be working on a spring table for Tablescape Thursday, although we’re supposed to have more storms coming in. Are you seeing a lot of stormy weather where you live, too?

Oh, before I close out this post, I got an email today from Talbots, they are having a Flash sale right now until midnight. If you’re in need of spring clothes, you’ll find the sale here: Talbots. I think I’ll check it out before I turn in…love their flash sales!

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Comments

  1. Good to hear the trees are done and gone before more storms move in. It’s got to be unsettling to hear them groan in high winds, but it would seem that the ones remaining are the strong ones. How cute is that footstool with its new denim topper, and storing trash bags in it really is clever. Hope you found something good at Talbots and that you’ll be sharing it.

    • Thanks, Mia! I’m glad it’s down, too. Atlanta as known as “The City in the Forest” so tree companies make a killing around here when the storms come through.

  2. Tammy Scouten says

    Good morning Susan! It’s in the wee hours of Wednesday morning and I wanted to tell you I thoroughly enjoyed your post. The footstool looks amazing! Perhaps my favorite part of the post was the nesting material. I had never thought of that before. Thanks for the great idea! Oh! Question: where did you purchase the box to store the materials? Have a happy day!

  3. We live by a tall stand of trees and every time there’s a big storm and those trees are swaying back and forth I worry about one of them falling over too. We have had several trees tip and break off but fortunately nothing that came towards the house. It’s expensive to have trees removed! I’m an early morning person and I love the quiet too. Listening to the birds in the morning (when it’s warm enough here) is a favorite pastime for me. The little stool makeover turned out so cute and Denim is a perfect choice!

    • Love your upstairs family room. Looks so cozy and comfortable. I’m a lover of blue and blue rooms just grab me in!

    • Thanks, Liz! You’re not kidding about being expensive. Just having those two trees removed was more than half what my 15-day trip to Morocco cost. 🙁
      The birds are going to town right now, aren’t they? I love hearing them! I filled up the feeders before I left but they were all empty and the birds were nowhere to be seen when I got back home. They’ve come back now, though…it took them a few days.
      Happy Spring, Liz! Happy bird watching! 🙂

  4. Great job with the stool!! Really added pizzazz!! Those storms…gaaa…we’ve got to deal “with trees down” too…*sigh* franki

  5. Why keep a backyard full of trees: their beauty, sun protection, breezes, homes for wildlife – in fact the last one should be the first reason. No trees, no birds.

  6. Love the denim footstool -practical but cute. I’m quite in awe of your trees. I live in the desert but I’m a tree person. mary in Az

  7. Cynthia Raines says

    So glad no real damage. The last acre of our property is all trees and I love taking a walk through our woods to the back of our property. We do have a tree near our garden shed that I am keeping my eye on and yes we had that storm too with 65+ mph winds – it was something else, I had a hard time walking in it. No kidding. We had a doctor appointment that day and I couldn’t believe how strong the wind was walking across the parking lot. On a happier note, I love that little stool, I have one just like it, only an olive green with a tapestry cover. I put my embroidery in it. It is a perfect little stool. Happy Spring! 🙂

    • Oh, that’s the perfect thing to store there! Love that!
      Wow, I’m glad I was home for that storm…that sounds wild! The tree guy who took down my trees said it ripped the siding off the end of his house. I’m sure I would have been hiding out in the basement if I had been home.

  8. Suzanne Davis says

    I started following your blog about a year ago but, have never posted! I love hearing about your life stories, cool finds and your travels. We love to travel too and have a bucket list! Another thing really made me relate…. is my love for Talbots. The only problem with Talbots clothes is they last too long! lol

    • Thanks so much, Suzanne! So glad to hear that! Isn’t Talbots just the best! I loved everything they’ve had in this spring. I don’t know who is doing their buying for them, or if they or having things especially designed for them, but I hope they keep it up because I’m loving it! I know what you mean, I have two linen suits that I still love that are over 10 years old and they still look as nice as the day I bought them.

  9. Rose Mary Lee says

    Love that cute little nook!!!!

  10. Jill from Southern New Hampshire says

    Falling trees must be going around this season! We had two very large pine branches (big enough to be their own trees) fall in our yard recently – one during heavy winds last month and another from the heavy, wet snow we had over the weekend. Both blocked the driveway but were far from the house, fortunately! Your footstool looks great. Do you just pull the material taut, one side at a time to get the neat look?

    • So glad they didn’t hit your house! We’ve been having storms all day today, finally the sun is shining a bit.
      The way I did it was I just started in the center of one of the long sides and I turned the fabric under and stapled it down with a staple gun. I added a few more staples on that side, then switched and did the opposite side. Once I had the two sides done, I did the ends, against just focusing on the center section. Once I had the fabric stapled in the center of all four sides with about 3-4 staples, I went back to the first long side I had stapled and began stapling it all the way out to the corners. This was an easy job since the fabric is plain, it would be a bit trickier if the fabric was striped or had a definite pattern.
      So basically just start by stapling the center section of all four sides, then go back and fill in to the end.
      I did the corners last. Because the denim fabric was so heavy/thick and I made that worse by turning under the edges to sorta hem as I went, there was a lot of fabric thickness to work with at the corners. I ended up cutting away some of the fabric, otherwise the staples from the staple gun would have never gone through.
      My staple gun is very hold and really hurts your hand to use it. I think I’m going to look and see if someone makes a better one with hopefully a padded handle. lol

  11. Marlene Stephenson says

    Trees are great for shade, but they can break or lean. I love your upstairs room and if you have time and can remember, where did you get those sconces in that room?

    • It’s been so many years, I don’t remember now. Back when I decorated that room, it was really easy to find polished brass, then it fell out of favor. I don’t think those were Baldwin Brass. If I had to guess, I may have found them in the lighting department of HomeDepot or some place like that. Since polished brass has had a bit of a comeback, you may be able to find some online now. I still love brass.

  12. Sorry about your trees but happy they fell away from your house! I couldn’t help but notice your beautiful Acuba bush. It is so huge! I had one years ago at my house in DeKalb. I am looking for some shrubs for our new home and I think I will put the Acuba on my list after seeing yours.
    Love the little footstool. I put one on my wishlist at Amazon.

    • That poor bush has been cut back twice because there’s a gardenia right beside it. Well, the cold all but killed the gardenia bush a few years ago and the Acuba just keeps coming back. I need to just leave it along because it’s so reliable. I can definitely recommend them…this one has lasted through all kinds of terrible weather and always looks great!

  13. Elizabeth Roderick says

    Thanks for sharing the foot stool. I love denim and yellow together so I know it will look great in your office.

  14. Juanita in OH says

    Yes, we are having a typical rollercoaster ride season. One day is 32 and the next it is 70 with Air Raid sirens going off, indicating tornadic activity etc. Your tree issues reminded me of my daughter’s incident. One beautiful, warm and calm spring morning she was standing in front of her closet looking for something to wear. Suddenly, there was a large crashing sound, we all rushed toward her bedroom and there in the closet was a big pointy tree limb right in front of her face. We all needed a drink after that. I can’t get over the cost of tree removal, it is astronomical! I miss waking up at five am. As you said the world is so quiet at that time(when I was working many years ago. I am anxiously awaiting the table scape. TFS about the foot stool also, I must get one even though I am tall my legs hurt all the time.

  15. Your desk and surrounding area sure is organized! I love the re-cover of the stool. I could use one of those and probably could recover myself!

  16. bobbi duncan says

    Hi, Susan! Love the blue fabric on your white foot stool, as it blends so nicely with the rest of the room. I adore multi-functional pieces. Sorry to hear you’ve had downed trees, but glad you and your home weren’t directly impacted–other than the cost, that is. Boy, can I understand THAT. At our last house, we had a big yard with some huge old trees that rotted through their entire core. It cost us almost 20K to have them chopped up and hauled away! We were very lucky none had fallen on our home as their size would have caused immense damage, and we could’ve been badly injured as well. We’ve had a couple heavy rains around here as well. Hugs!

  17. I win on Talbots! I have things over twenty years old. 🙂 I admit it…am a collector (ahem, hoarder) turning an extra bedroom into a closet right now. Your stool turned out cute, fits right in. The trees in the East are gorgeous. We have trees here in Colorado, but many pine and we have to work for all of them. Missed your blog when you were gone, glad you are home again.

  18. This is the first year we have run out of firewood. I wish we had a few trees. Tree removal is expensive. The tools cost a lot but the insurance is just crazy and it is a very dangerous job.

  19. Tina Carpenter says

    The foot stool came out too cute. Stay safe with all the spring storms!

  20. 70 mile per hour winds are scary and glad your home was spared any damage. Denim was a wise choice for the cute footstool!

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