Rustic industrial Ikea stool hack.
After designing our kitchen we wanted a couple of cool stools to sit at our new raised faux concrete peninsula, yeah we didn’t know that’s what it was called…less of an island more of a peninsula. We designed it so a couple of stools would fit underneath. Search pinterest for rustic or industrial stools and you can find yourself down a deep rabbit hole very quickly.
We decided to go for the DIY option after spotting Ikea’s KULLABERG stools. It’s a pretty basic hack involving sandpaper and wood stain. The wooden stool seats are made from ply and have a lot of varnish applied. Unscrew the seat from the frame then you have to remove the varnish layers. Because the seat is dipped in the centre be careful not to sand away the lip shape in the wood. This took a lot longer than we expected on a hot sunny afternoon in the garden.
Lastly, we applied some walnut water-based wood stain with a rag, rubbing it into the grain and also some aged patina scratches created with a wire brush. Once dry, we rubbed over again with a dry cloth to buff up the finish.
