I’ve always loved the look of a smaller stool rather than a big bench in front of a piano. We keep all of our piano music in the tiger chest in the library, so we didn’t really need a bench for storage purposes. I found this antique adjustable height stool on Craigslist for about $40. The size was perfect, it just needed a paint job to better work in our music room.
I wanted a creamy white color to pop against the black of our piano, so I picked up a can of Rustoleum’s Heirloom White spray paint, which is a great warm white. We taped off the crystal feet first and I love how the color turned out.
The seat top was a little worse for the wear though and the new paint job seemed to only highlight the imperfections, so I grabbed a little flokati rug from IKEA, trimmed it down a bit and upholstered the seat top with my trusty staple gun. It was a quick two-minute job! My favorite type of DIY! :)
I love the tone on tone colors of the stool and the sheepskin together, and the new texture was a welcome addition to the space I think. Plus the sheepskin bumped up the stool’s comfort factor by a lot without ruining the height-adjustable factor.
Have you seen any cool upholstery projects lately using these flokati rugs? Here’s a round up of some of my favorite projects and images – I think a sheepskin is gorgeous in just about any room! I am working on some changes to the studio right now and there is a little footstool in the space that is begging for a fluffy new top. :)
Jenny, that is the EXACT same stool we had in front of the piano when I was growing up! As a kid, I loved spinning round and round :)
So great that you managed to improve both form and function. Hopefully the fluffy seat will keep your budding pianists practicing! I happen to love my bench (it's from a little company in Elbow, SK, Canada) but it's smaller, adjustable and more streamlined than the usual benches you see with an upright.
I love it, how fun. I am on a Mongolian Fur kick and love how fluffy fur can be.
A little off topic, but that sunny room with the shelves is gorgeous! The ladder reminds me of beauty and the beast :)
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Great post! I actually posted something very similar on my blog just this morning using two mid-century chrome Tulip stools that I found on Craig's List.
Stools are such a great way to inject life into a space without investing a ton of money … and everyone has space for one (or 2) of them.
While i love the new colour in that space I really adored the original finish and think it still may have worked with the new top.
BTW, sheepskin (in your link) is NOT Flokati. The latter is woven using sheared wool, as opposed to the skin of a dead animal. Ikea also carries flokati rugs for a great price and I've used them for two projects: an ottoman cube and antique legged footstool. It's a charming look with no harm done.
So unique–love it! Happy Nesting.
The stool is a nice find and great DIY! But changing the subject a bit, is this a different piano? Every time I look at your music room pictures, I think it's not the same piano as the one you posted a while back.
The stools are so much cuter than the benches. Great quick DIY project!
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Love this room and everything in it! A bit off topic, but where did you find that fabulous orange rug you have in there??
your house is just amazing – the stool is so cute. I painted two dining room chairs and the table with that same heirloom white. great color :)
such a cute improvement!
What's the wall color? Love the instruments hanging on the wall.
Not to sound like a negative Nancy, but I liked the stool before the makeover. It seemed like it had a lot of character/aging and I'm not sure a "pop" of color was necessary in this case.It seems a little weird to focus the eye on a stool when it's standing in front of a beautiful piano. But seriously, I normally think your choices are amazing! Especially that book case in the library. To say I am jealous is an understatement.