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Farmhouse Style Upholstered Stool Painted Gray

April 27, 2016



CREATE   |   Published April 27, 2016






We are all taught as children to not judge a book by it's cover, which is a memorable way of saying to not make assumptions about people (or things) based on how they look.  It's a useful lesson.  The same obviously holds true for choosing paint.







For quite some time now, I've been using Fusion Mineral Paint on my projects.  (You can find all the projects here.)  But for every single one of them, I've gone with safe choices of white, gray, or charcoal.  What can I say?  I like neutrals.  (I guess you could also assume I might be afraid of color or making a statement.)




There has been a bottle of Algonquin colored paint sitting there on my shelf for quite some time and when I look at that bottle of paint, I question why I got it.  It is a tan color and I'm really not that into tan.....even though I know it is another neutral.  It's out of my comfort zone.






In the basement sat a bench (or would you call it a stool?) that I picked up last summer for $2.  It is a pretty simple piece of furniture with a upholstered seat.  It is actually removable and flips over into a convenient little tray turning the seat into a place to rest your drink.






Anyways, I've been busy working on projects and furniture for my booth at a summer market and thought that maybe this was my chance to break out of the 50 shades of gray color scheme and be more adventurous....with tan.


I scrunched up my nose, dipped my paintbrush into the color with disgust, and then it happened.......






I found out that just because a color of paint doesn't look so pretty in the bottle doesn't mean that it isn't a beautiful color on a piece of furniture.


A few strokes onto my little bench and I realized that I knew exactly what I was doing when I originally picked the color.  It is actually the most amazing shade of grayish beige (or griege as everyone calls it now).  And oddly enough it is just a touch lighter than my all-time favorite paint color that I've turned into chalk paint and used for a couple projects here.  (Like this stool from a few weeks ago.)


The color immediately perked up this simple bench, and I can't wait to try it on something a little more decorative now.












The seat got got upholstered with some drop cloth fabric.  My plan was to do nailhead trim or decorative upholstery tacks around the edge, but since the seat sets down inside the base it wasn't possible.  There are plenty of other chairs and benches in the basement that I can try that technique on soon.  The basic upholstery is just what this little bench needed.






It is just another one of those cases where the fear of what we think something will be like holds us back from seeing the greatness that is possibly there.  How many times have we held back from painting a room or choosing a new piece of furniture because we are too scared of changing from the safe choice that we already know.  I'm not saying that I'm going to go wild and choose magenta for my next project, but I may decide to break out of those safe neutrals!






What about you?  What have you been too scared of to try lately just because of what you think something will be like?










Learn how to make the reproduction Dutch Tulip Crates that are hanging on the wall.







This post may contain affiliate links.  That means that if you purchase a product I've recommended, it won't cost you any more, but I may receive a small commission.  I only will share products I believe in and all opinions are my own.  You can view my disclosure policy here.  Thank you so much for helping to support this blog!



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Learning to Make a Home
anderson+grant is a lifestyle blog dedicated to helping you to create a slower, simpler home with contemporary style.

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