Building and Finishing a Step Stool - Part 2

In my previous post I showed how I made two step stools and now I'll show how I finished them.

As I said in that post, I had a buyer that wanted a stained step stool. Her preference was for a dark stain, so I used a Minwax Gel Stain. It's easy to use, just rub all over the stool (I do sections at a time) and then wipe off any extra.  I find it a bit messy and need to use rubber gloves, but you really can't go wrong.

You need to let this dry at least one day, or the stain will come off when you clear coat it.  I used four or five coats of wipe-on polyurethane.

Here's the first step stool:

I made two stools and decided to use white milk paint on the second stool. So, I stained the stool with the same stain as the first one.  Once that was dry, I painted it with the milk paint and then distressed it. Since the pine is a light coloured wood, staining as an undercoat allows a darker wood to show through the distressed areas.

 Here's a close up of the same photo:

Now I find this to really need something extra, don't you?



In my next post I will show you how I made this stool look a little better using something I have never used before.

I also will have a special deal just for you, my readers... stay tuned!

Sharing at the following blogs:

Funky Junk Interiors

Too Much Time on My Hands

Shabby Art Boutique