Monday, September 28, 2009

toadstools

The kids and I have often thought about creating some furniture for in the playhouse. Liv loves fairies and we thought it would be fun to make it a 'fairy house'. So after lots of thinking and planning, we came up with these!

We collected small wooden spools used for wire or rope (got 'em free from the hardware store - they were in the trash can!), 5cm (2") foam from an upholstery shop (some of it was free from their remnants bin, the rest was really inexpensive), white paint, 1/2 yard vinyl coated red cloth with white polkadots (bought in MN at Treadle Yard Goods), a staple gun and hammer. (The newspaper in the photo was used to catch paint over spray.)
We painted the spools white. While the paint dried, we traced out the shape of the spool onto the foam. We added about 2.5cm (1") around the sides to allow for cushey edges. We cut this shape out. (We attempted with large scissors. Too much work. A small, serrated paring knife works best.)

We cut the 1/2 yard of fabric in half and placed one piece face down on the grass. In the centre, we placed one circle of foam and then the stool on top.
Starting with the four corners or fabric, we stapled the fabric to the under side of the 'seat' pulling it taut as we went.
After the fabric is stapled on, we hammered the staples flush,
cut off the extra fabric and flipped the seat over.
TA-DA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is so cool! Cute and functional and fun to boot. I especially love that so many of the materials were cheap or free.

bubbledumpster said...

this is such an awesome idea, i think i'm going to have to steal it.

maybe i'll even add to it by adding astroturf to the bottom segment of the spool!

Jenn said...

So cute! O.K. We're going to have to do this. And you could get a bigger spool and seal the holes in the ends with wood filler, paint it all white and then hand-paint the red top and white dots and you'd have a table to match!! :0)

Thanks for the great idea and it really looks like Liv loves it!

World Wide Alternative said...

SQUEEEEEEEEEE!
I may have to pinch this...XXxx.

Amber said...

Oh they look so good. Oh i am feeling very inspired...clever mummy...xxx

Jenny Davis said...

Great idea! These are adorable! I love Jenn's idea about the table - that would be super cute!

V said...

You're such a clever woman! Can you be my mommy too?

Rachel said...

Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah!!!! These turned out just perfect. So glad we could go to the store to get the perfect thing :)

Love you to bits...

darcie said...

will you adopt me????

Rachael said...

WEll done- that is so cute!

Anonymous said...

Oh what a wonderful idea. dd loves fairies too and we have been on a toadstool kick too! I think I am going to make this for a birthday gift for another girl who loves fairies. Thanks for the super idea

linzyforgot said...

So Great to see another like mind... I have all the materials and am about to make some for my home. I was searching the web to see if its been done before :D