Footstool Makeover Part 3

Hello and welcome to the ACTUAL footstool makeover! I decided to go with the blue fabric (option B from the previous post) because its more summery, and I have been doing everything I can to lighten up my colonial house. Thanks for all the input! Ideas on what to use the animal fabric for would be appreciated as well!

Here are the steps to upholstering and painting my old metal base to become something I will actually use:

1.) I first made sure that the little bracket clamps I bought would fit around the metal frame. I got eight of them so that I could put two on each corner.


2.)Next, I cut a pretty thick piece of plywood to fit the frame.

3.) Then I picked out eight screws that would go almost all the way through the plywood--one for each bracket. I predrilled holes for them, but it ended up not mattering anyway.4.) I picked up some upholstery foam when I was at Hancock fabrics--the thickest I could find, and then cut it to fit the bracket and plywood square.

5.) I also picked up some quilt batting while I was there. This is used to wrap around the floral foam and the wood before the fabric goes on top. It kind of smooths everything out. You can see its pretty thin, but you can get it in many different thicknesses.
6.) I wrapped the batting all the way around the foam and the wood, just like wrapping a present, then stapled it down on the wood side with my staple gun. As you can see, I went all the way around the edges, about 2 inches from the edge itself. If you mess up, no big deal--rip the staple out with needle-nosed pliers or a flat head screwdriver.

This is what you end up with when you are done with the batting:

7.) Then I cut the fabric so that it would wrap around the foam, batting, and wood.
8.) The difference between this part and the last step is that you don't have to go all the way around the seat--just to the edges. You have to stretch the fabric like a canvas as you staple. So first put a staple at 12 o'clock, then stretch the fabric all the way across the foam and put in a staple at 6 o'clock. Then you do the same thing but the staples go at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock.
9.) The next step is to flip it over and make sure the design looks the way you want it on the top of the seat before moving on with more staples. If it isn't straight or centered, then pull out your staples, reposition the fabric, and put the staples back in.
10.) If everything looks ok, then flip it back over and finish stapling down the sides. To stretch it evenly, you should continue going around the seat like a clock. Put a staple on either side of the middle, then go to the opposite side and do the same. Repeat until you have gotten to the corners.
11.) When you get to the corners, you have options: you can do pleats, or just try to do a hospital corner like I did. Make sure not to put in too many staples or get the fabric too thick.
12.) Almost done! Now trim off the excess fabric to make it easier to cover the bottom.

13.) I picked up some black interfacing, which is stiff fabric that doesn't need to be hemmed, to use to cover the bottom. I have no idea if this is the correct thing to do, but it looked like the bottom of other upholstered things I have seen, so I went for it! I cut a square out so that it would be centered inside my square with about a 1/2 inch border all the way around. I wanted it to cover all my extra fabric, batting, and staples.
14.) This is the paint I picked out to cover the base--its kind of an ivory to match the design on the fabric. I spray painted the base and the eight clips to match, and ended up using the entire bottle to get good coverage.
15.) I put a clip on either side of each corner:
16.) Then I flipped the whole thing over and centered it on the wooden side of my seat. I screwed the brackets into the wood like so:

Voila! The finished product!! Now to scotchguard the thing so I don't spill something on it and kick myself! I think its going to to in my bathroom so I will have somewhere to sit while I put on my makeup. OR should it live on the back porch? Do you think I need to put some edging around the bottom of the seat to hide the brackets, or do you think they are hidden enough by the paint? **Special thanks to Brett, who kindly wielded the circular saw due to my incident 3 weeks ago with the serrated knife!**