HowTo Make an Old Metal Stool Look New Again

Old or New Metal Stool

Newspapers, or Tarp, (to protect your work surface)

Medium and Fine Grit Sandpaper

Paint Scrapper

Damp Cloth or Paper towels

Metal Primer

Spray Paint (enough for the job, and you choice of color)

Dust Mask

Eye Protection

Small Box (for carrying your supplies)

The Prep Work:

First you will need to set up your work area, and make sure the area, is protected from the rain, and is well ventilated. Now, for setting up a good work area ,you can use either a small table with newspapers on top, or place a large tarp on the ground, to protect the area in you will be working on. Next grab all of the supplies you will need for this project, put them into a small box to make it easier to transport to your work station. Here are the items you will need for the first step of the project, medium grit sandpaper, paint scrapper,damp cloth, spray paint, dust mask, and metal stool.

Let's Get Started:

Now that you have your work station all prepped and ready to go, let's get started with our project. First, you will need to take a damp cloth and wipe off as much of the dirt and dust off of the old metal stool, as possible, let stool dry completely, this will make the next step much easier. Putting on your dust mask to protect you lungs from all of the dust in the next step. Take your medium grit sandpaper and start sanding, making sure to ruff up all of the painted surface, and removing as much rust as possible with out making any holes in the metal stool. This will help the primer stick to the already painted stool, Take metal spray primer, with light strokes spray on your first light coat of primer, you should see some of the metal and old paint showing through your first coat of primer, let this first coat of primer dry completely. After, the first coat of metal primer is fully dry, is not be sticky when you touch the metal stool, and taking the fine grit sandpaper, lightly sand the primer coat, to ruff up the surface. Now wipe with a damp cloth, to remove any dust from the sanding process, let the stool dry completely. Next, lightly apply another light coat of primer to the whole stool, even under the seat, letting this coat dry. Then lightly sand, wiping off the dust, with your damp cloth. You will be, repeating these steps until the entire metal stool, has a solid covering of metal primer, skipping the last sanding step. Let the freshly primed metal stool dry overnight. This will give you a better finish, at the end, of our metal stool project.

Clean up your work area for you are done for the today, throw away anything that is not needed for tomorrows part of the project. Go ahead and setup for tomorrows part of the project, in your little project box you will need, a dry cloth, fine grit sandpaper, dust mask, and spray paint. If your work area is not outside go ahead and replace the newspapers, if you used these to protect your area. If you are not inside then place a new stack of newspapers, next to your project box, doing these things now will get you working on your project faster the next day.

Adding Color:

Now, that you let the primer dry over night, and you have prepped your work area, let's get started adding the final coats of paint to your stool project. First putting on your dust mask to protect your lungs, grab your fine grit sandpaper and lightly sand the primer coat, this will help the paint stick to the surface by giving it something to grab onto, with a slightly damp cloth wipe off all of the dust from the sanding, let this dry completely, before moving on to the next steps.

After your stool has completely dried, with light strokes apply a thin coat of spray paint, you should still see a little of the primer showing through, when you are finished with this coat, let dry, then lightly sand, wipe dust off, let dry completely. You will repeat these steps until you have a solid coat of paint on your metal stool. After your final coat of paint let the stool dry for a full twenty-four hours, this will make sure that both the primer and paint have enough time to cure before placing it in it's new home.

Cleaning Up:

Now that you have finished your stool project, you will want to dispose of the primer and paint in the proper way for your area, do not just throw these into your trash cans. Clean up all of the tools used and put them away, this will make it easier for you to use them on your next painting project. Also throw way the newspapers, sandpaper, and damp cloths you used for your this project.

Here are some uses for your Metal Stool:

As a plant stand, for your favorite houseplant, that is in a decorative flower pot, this can be placed in your kitchen, home office, bath, living, or dining rooms. Place your stool in the bathroom, to hold a pretty basket full of soaps, shampoo's, lotions, and a hand towel of two. You could also put this stool, in your child's bedroom to hold their favorite night time buddy, so they will always know where their friend is, and this will make bed time much easier on you. Have fun finding place for your new stool, just maybe, there is that dark corner, in your house, that needs your stool, to give it life and a little touch of color.

From the Author:

I hope you had fun working on this project with me, you can help clean up the land fills by creating something new from some thing that was headed for the trash can. For me this is the best part about crafting, you are also recycling at the same time.