I found this old footstool made of oak; I loved the beautiful texture of the oak wood and decided not to paint over it, but to recover the padded top and stencil a design on the fabric. I was able to get this lovely velvety chestnut brown material at an op (charity) shop to recover it in. I wanted to stencil it using Annie Sloan Chalk stencils, but wasn’t able to find any at my stockist, so I went to my local library and found a book on stenciling. It had some great ideas and traceable designs. I was able to trace a couple which I combined on a piece of baking paper and then cut it out using a craft knife on a piece of plastic I had at home. I could have used cardboard/poster board as well. I just used an old plastic kitchen chopping mat underneath it to protect the table I was working on. It was easy to unscrew the padded top to the footstool and measured up and cut out the material. I placed the stencil over the material and taped it in place. Using a small dry brush I first painted on the Old Ochre, just sparingly dabbing it on. Then I wiped my brush and did the same using Coco, but not putting it over the whole design, just dabbing it on parts to allow the Old Ochre to seen as well, giving a lovely effect in the two shades. Once it had dried I stapled it onto the padded top of the stool and screwed it back it. It looks so beautiful, what a transformation!   Thanks for visiting RiverRoad.nz