Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Weekend Project: Step Stool For My Tiny Tot


Anyone with a toddler can tell you, they are quite the little movers and shakers. Our littlest honey bee is into EVERYTHING! She’s here, she’s there, she’s up, she’s down. Really, it’s exhausting. Lately, she has been climbing on anything that her tiny feet can fit on. While watching her attempt one of her dangerous stunts one day, the hubs and I came up with the idea of giving her a little step stool of her very own. One that she could both sit and stand on, and that would be sturdier than the wipes box she currently favored.

We were out and about last weekend checking out a local antique and second hand store and, as luck would have it, found THE one. It was nice and sturdy, and made, what looks like by hand, out of real wood. It was also a good size for my little girl to be able to pick up and move on her own. It was instant love so we paid the nice lady behind the counter $12 for it and just like that, it was ours, and I had my next project!
 

 
I had saved a special piece of scrapbook paper that I knew that I wanted to use to make something special for my tiny honey bee. I decided that this would be the perfect project to use it on and I picked out a pink colored paint to match the paper. But first, I needed to prepare the step stool for painting. The stool was painted black by its last owner and as everyone knows, black is the hardest color to cover, so I began by priming it with paint primer and let it dry completely.

 

Next, I gave the stool a few coats of pink and made sure that every nook and cranny was well covered and let it dry overnight.

 

Then came the tricky part of putting the paper on the top of the stool. The stool that we had chosen had rounded corners and no sharp edges, which is perfect for a child to play with but not so perfect for trying to glue paper to. I placed the paper with the side that I wanted showing facing down. I flipped the stool over on its top and traced the top of the stool onto the paper, getting as close to the top edge as I could.
 
Then, I removed the stool and cut the traced shape out of the paper. After placing the paper on the top of the stool, I trimmed around the edges with an Xacto knife until I was satisfied with how the paper fit. Then I glued it down with Mod Podge (wonderful stuff btw) and let it dry for a few hours.

This particular stool has two holes cut out in the center of the top, so next, I cut out those two circles. To do this, I flipped the stool over, making sure to place a cutting mat under it so I wouldn’t cut into my work table, and roughly cut out each circle. After that was done, I flipped the stool back over and carefully trimmed each circle.

 

I had some of the patterned paper left over so I used it to cut out a few flowers and added them onto the sides of the stool for decoration. I was now ready to seal the stool so that the paper on top and the decorations couldn’t be peeled off by little fingers. Using the same Mod Podge that I used to glue that paper and flowers down, I painted the entire stool making sure to cover the paper and its edges well. I did this twice and once more around the edges of the paper to ensure that it was covered entirely. I let it dry overnight, and it was complete!

 

  I am so happy with how this project turned out and I think my little girl is too!
Let me know what you think in the comments below! Thanks for reading and I’ll see you again soon! Have a wonderful day!

 

Kellie

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