I should never be allowed into Michaels. It’s just bad news every time!
I always find a project to do – or invent a project to do.
So when I was there recently looking for stencils for the closet doors in the guest room, I wandered up and down a number of aisles, including the wooden items. I loved the little short stools (for kids), but didn’t really have a need for one.
Then, I was wandering down another aisle, when I came across some supplies for tiling, something I’ve never tried. I decided to get the little stool, stain and seal it, and then tile the top of it and put it in the garden (where, who knows?). So I picked up all my supplies (including having to pick up some exterior wood sealer at Lowes a few days later) and got started.
I stained the stool and learned that I had an oil-based stain. So my tips from the fireplace paint are also applicable -
- Use gloves to apply it.
- Get brush cleaner so you can clean the brushes.
- If you don’t want to clean the brush right away, keep it in a plastic bag to keep it moist.
- Preferably stain outside since the fumes can be a bit much…I didn’t, but I should have!
After the first coat of stain
It’s looking pretty nice already! And of course, when I do something and like it – like staining – I think, what else can I stain? I’m sure when I get around to staining the deck, I’ll be fed up with staining things, so that will get it out of my system!
I’ll get some photos up once the stool is done of the rest of the process. I’m looking forward to seeing how the tiling goes – especially because when I eventually re-do my kitchen, I want to tile my own backsplash!
I love staining! Well ok, I don’t love the process or the fumes or anything, but I love the potential for it. We tend to prefer dark woods, and it’s the best way to sort-of-get them on a budget. We’ve combined stains to get a multi-wood effect, too.
Good luck tiling. Some people think it’s one of the easiest things, and others have a hell of a time. Recently my pal JC Little has been writing about her tiling misadventures on http://www.theanimatedwoman.com/ I don’t get anything special out of tiling, but of course have had a field day doing mosaics.
Thanks for the good wishes!
I’m a big fan of the dark woods too. I’d love to do dark wood throughout the whole first floor of my house, but it’s just not practical right now! I love the idea of getting a multi-wood effect too – I have that on a table I got from Target a couple of years ago, and it looks so beautiful!
The tiling went pretty well (I just wrote a post for that which will be published next week). I’ll definitely check out your friend’s post! I enjoyed it, though it was frustrating that I didn’t get it perfectly even. But it was a good first attempt! I’m not sure what else I’d tile, but I hope to be tiling a new kitchen backsplash sometime early next year when I’m working on updating my kitchen!
[...] as I mentioned, I’d come up with the idea to stain and seal a small stool from Michaels, and then tile the [...]