Footstools are perfect to practice chalk painting furniture and trying upholstery for the first time. They are far less intimidating than a large piece of furniture and they don't take a lot of time to finish. My curvy embossed leather footstool took under two hours to complete and most of that time was waiting for paint to dry.

I should have titled this post the footstool that ran me dry because I used the last drop of paint in the jar, the last drop of clear coat, the last large piece of leather hide, the last strand of decorative trim, and the very last glue stick in my stash.

How To Beautify A Curvy Embossed Leather Footstool

Today I'm joining my friends in the Int'l Bloggers Club where our challenge this month is to create something with leather. I knew my small curvy thrifty footstool would be the perfect candidate to use the last piece of embossed leather hide leftover from the Art Deco Headboard Bench.

If you're new here and haven't heard of the International Bloggers Club, we are a group of friends from around the globe who come together every month to share a themed DIY project. Links to my friend's leather projects are included at the bottom of this post. The last month that I participated in the challenge the theme was Valentines Day where I made a Burlap Ribbon Heart Wreath.

To truly appreciate this makeover you have to see what the footstool looked like when I bought it for $8 at Goodwill.


A big difference between the before and after, right?


Let's take a closer look at that lovely gold crushed velvet velour that was on the top. Um yeah, that just has to go.


So much prettier with this gorgeous floral embossed leather hide - look at those lovely details!


It's the perfect size footstool to pair with a small chair like the French Provincial Chair that used to be gold stripes until I painted the fabric white.


Whenever I stage photos with the table in the photo above, I always get asked about it. You can find that makeover here in my White Stacked Book Table post.

So here's how I did it...

This post contains affiliate links so you can see what products I used or recommend for this makeover. See my full disclosure policy.

Prepping the footstool for paint and upholstery

First things first are removing the seat and prepping the wood base for paint. First I cleaned the wood with a liquid deglosser which helps with topcoat adhesion. Next, I lightly sanded the wood with 150-grit sandpaper to give the primer some bite. I probably went overboard with both the deglosser and sanding but I'd rather err on the side of caution.

Because I knew the tannins in the wood would cause paint bleed, I primed the footstool with a stain blocking primer.

Painting and protecting the footstool base

I painted the base with two coats of Buttercream chalk paint with my favorite round paintbrush, sanding between coats with 220-grit sandpaper to a smooth finish. Once the second coat dried, I distressed along the edges of those curvy cabriole legs with sandpaper.

Knowing this little footstool may suffer some wear and tear, instead of my usual wax finish I applied a more durable clear coat, applied with the same round paintbrush. I love this stuff because it gives a beautiful matte finish like wax.

Replacing the old fabric with embossed leather

Well, that was the easiest fabric removal I’ve ever done. Who upholsters furniture with nails and tacks?


Lucky for me there wasn't a staple insight but if you're not as lucky, these inexpensive upholstery tools are a must. No more bandaids!


I only had one piece of embossed leather hide just barely large enough to upholster the footstool, so there was no room for error. You can find the floral embossed leather hide at The Leather Hide Store.

Upholstery Step 1:

Always start in the center and work your way out, stopping about 2-3 inches from the corner. Work on the opposite side, pulling the fabric taut as you work and repeat on all four sides.

I prefer using a pneumatic staple gun because it's so much faster but an electric or handheld upholstery stapler will do the job too.

Upholstery Step 2:

Pull the fabric point on each corner into the center (as pictured below) and tack a staple to hold it flat.

Upholstery Step 3:

Fold the point on each corner up and staple in place. You can see in the photo below that there is a lot of bulk in the folds because of the thickness of the leather. I'm in no way suggesting my way of folding the corners is the proper way of doing it when working with a thicker fabric like leather. Because I don't plan on selling this footstool, I wasn't too concerned about it being perfect.

If I had a larger piece of leather hide to work with, I would have sewn the corners much like I did HERE.


When I reattached the seat I wasn't fond of the small gap between the base and the seat (which was there with the old fabric too). To hide it I hot glued some decorative gimp braid trim along the edge.


I like how it dresses up the footstool a little bit.


The upholstery, including the braid trim, took less than 30 minutes. The most time-consuming part of this makeover was waiting for product to dry. If you're new to upholstery I would not suggest you start with leather because it is much easier to fold the corners with fabric.

If you have any questions about this makeover, please leave them in the comment section below or press the Contact Me button at the top of the blog to drop me an email. I love hearing from you!

So what do you think? You'll be seeing this pretty little footstool in future posts as I plan on using it as a photo prop.



Please join me by clicking the links below to visit my friend's Leather inspired projects...



I share my projects at these inspiring link parties.