Barnboard Painted Footstool

Can't Have the Real Thing? Paint it!

I came in from outside and accused hubby of holding out on me.  I found a really cute little plywood stool, obviously one of those shop projects from high school.

Time for it to go to the next level, and get painted.  I decided that as it was quite rugged and already damaged, it makes the perfect candidate for either faux driftwood, fake barnboard, or camouflage. 

I settled on painting it like barnboard, because if you look closely, it's got one of those shaped pieces where they mended the plywood as it was being made. 

These, painted like a knot hole, give it lots of character, and make a 3-D effect.

I dug out the box of paints from  under my bed, and shook them to see if they were still liquid - I usually replace them annually or sooner, because they solidify. 

Some had chunks in, but for this project, no problem.  That will just add contouring!

The plywood footstool needed a good cleaning to get the dust off, but other than that, no special treatment. 

If you want to get it cleaner, you could use TSP on your project, which takes off grease or oil.

The first coat was just a scribble of colour randomly applied with a larger brush to give it some depth and background.

Then other layers were added with each one using a smaller sized brush.

In some cases, I would sand between layers, but as this project had kind of a rough finish, no need for this step.

This project didn't get any kind of finish applied over top, but you could if you wanted, layer on some urethane (I use water based only). 

I find that these acrylic craft paints are incredibly durable, and don't need to be protected from any wear unless it's outdoors.

Let it dry, only a few minutes to an hour, depending on how thickly you've applied the paint, and it's ready to use.

Hubby calls this a toe stubber. Serves him right for holding out on me.

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Update; we've used this stool for years, up until the time we moved all the way across the country and decided to let it go. 

It was small enough to fit in the back seat of many of the trucks we owned in the interim, and allowed me to climb in without a lot of help.

I'm hoping someone else is getting the same kind of value from it, to help them reach higher shelves, maybe, or for a child to use for a seat. You could even use it to teach your dog some parkour moves, like up-up, or to learn back end awareness. 

There is no end of usefulness for a footstool like this, so if you see one, grab it. Don't let the naysayers deny you the opportunity.