My mom never threw anything away.  No, seriously, I recently found a box of 45 remote controls in a closet.  Like obviously the devices they belonged to were long gone, so why would you save all of the remotes?!?  Anyway, I digress…

Being raised by a woman of this mentality forced me in the other direction– I am a purger by all means.  However, when I go to throw away a huge box of junk, this little voice pops in my head…could you save that?  Could it be useful down the line?  So ensues a mental tug of war that usually ends with me throwing half the stuff away and storing the rest in the basement.

I’ve been working on a craft room office for myself, and have realized that “craft room/office” stuff is freaking expensive!  Thanks to my mom’s hoarding compulsion and Pinterest, I’ve been able to furnish and decorate it for pennies!  Today I found an old stool in the basement and within an hour (plus drying time) I transformed it into a work of functional art that would be $29.99 on retail sites.

Materials needed:

• Stool
• Cotton batting that comes in sheets ($2.50 for large bag)
• A square of fabric 2 inches larger than surface of stool ($1.49 at craft store)
• Hot glue
• Paint

The stool before:  ugly, drab and hazardous  
First attach the cotton batting.  I got a relatively thin kind, and put two layers together.  The stool I used has a squarish seat, so I cut a square slightly larger than the surface.  Then I just started hot gluing it around the bottom, pulling tightly as the sides got glued down.

Repeat the process with the fabric.  Around the corners, you just wrap it like you would a gift: turn in the corners, fold up and glue.

I painted the legs white (in hindsight I should have done that first, but it took me a while to decide on my color palette.

Ta da!  Easy, quick and thrifty…my mom would be proud 🙂

Have a wonderful rainy crafternoon!