JC Penney Stool: The Big Reveal...

Ever since seeing these faux bamboo, chinoiserie inspired stools from Cindy Crawford's line for JC Penney that we posted about here, we have been wondering what they are like in real life.  When I initially saw it, I thought about ordering a pair for a twin bedroom, to put one at the foot of each bed.  The JCP website didn't provide dimensions (of course), so I called and found out they were only 18" wide.  Too small for the foot of a twin bed (and I thought two per twin would look weird).  So I decided to just order one and use it as a footstool/ ottoman in my den.

The stool arrived yesterday in a box, with easy looking instructions.  However, the bronzey color of the metal base just wasn't doing it for me.  It isn't gold enough to look good, so I knew I had to make a change.

The top of the ottoman is perhaps the ugliest thing I have ever seen.  It is a horrible taupey color of ultrasuede.  ULTRASUEDE.  The worst material known to man.  I mean, why do cheap furniture designers insist on doing everything in ultrasuede?  I absolutely cannot stand it, and this ottoman is no exception. 

But not to worry, I was planning to make a few changes to it. 

First, off, I detached the ultrasuede cushion from the metal base and spray painted the base black.  I think it could also look good to fill in some of the crevices on the bamboo with gold leaf paint.  I might do that later on.

Then, I knew I had to cover up that icky ultrasuede. 

In my den, I had already lined some built-in bookshelves with a $1/yard red diamond print fabric I found, so I thought this ottoman would be a good way to tie that fabric into the room. 

Here is a close-up of the fabric.  It's certainly not the most exciting fabric in the world, but it works well in my den, and at $1 a yard, the price was right!

Next step was to break out the trusty staple gun and cover the cushion.

And the finished cushion- what a big difference!

Then, I screwed the updated cushion onto the now-black base. 

And voila!  A "custom" footstool for $99 shipped!

I am happy with how it turned out!  I think a pair of these would look fabulous if you have the right place for them!

This project was super super easy.  From start to finish it took less than 2 hours, including the time to let the paint dry.  I think painting the base and covering the cushion makes a huge difference- what do you think?  And you could definitely have more fun with it and paint the base red or white and use a fun graphic fabric.