Re-Purposed Vintage Step Stool

I’m not even sure this one should be a blog post. It’s just too easy!

This poor, tired step stool sat outside my store for months. I think it was priced at $18? No takers. Even with the 30% off sale. Then it came home and went to the junk pile… and then I dragged it back out of the junk pile. I wasn’t ready to give up on it yet.

Let’s Get Started!

I started by sanding the whole thing. Alternating the power sander on the seat and the disk on the legs. When I started sanding, I could see that it had been painted green at one time, so I tried to get some of that vintage green to show through.

Then, I removed what I could of the black rubber from the pull out steps with a paint scraper. Naturally, it did not all come off. Occasionally, I would use the paint scraper and grab my hammer and hit the end of the paint scraper to try and get more of the rubber off, so I decided to try an iron. I took a wet washrag, and I laid it on top of the black rubber and put the iron on top of the rag. Let it sit a couple minutes and took it off. Watch your fingers!! It was just enough heat to loosen up the old glue that was holding it in place, and it came right off. The same thing on the other pull out.

Then I was left with some nasty residue. I sprayed it with Citrol and let it sit 5 minutes or so and cleaned it up. Most of it came off with that initial time but I did do it again just to get anything that stayed behind. I have used Citrol to degrease several projects in the past. It’s definitely a must-have in my arsenal.

Clean Up Time!

Get a bowl of warm, soapy water and a rag. I washed the entire chair, and once it was all dry, I sprayed the whole thing with the fast-drying Minwax. I did two coats, waiting till the first coat dried entirely before adding the second coat.

Voila! That’s it! Now you have a super cool vintage display piece!