Tip #1: Buy for the long haul. These days the kitchen island is the spot to eat, read, entertain, lounge, work, and fill-in-the-blank. They say the kitchen is the heart of the home and it’s true. Purchasing a quality and durable stool that will take a beating from kids, grandkids, friends, and that neighbor that likes to show up unannounced, is very important. People will be sitting, climbing, spilling, leaning, swiveling, and (if you have kids) standing on your stools. You want these stools to stand their ground when your 5 year old tries to use it as a rocking chair or when Grandma needs the armrests to stable herself when sitting down. Tip #2: Know your heights. Before you purchase, know what height you need. (Picture of stool heights) You don’t want to feel like Lily Tomlin in the ‘Incredible Shrinking Woman’ or the Jolly Green Giant. Measure from the floor to the top of your counter for best accuracy. Almost all stools are available in both 26” kitchen counter and 30” bar heights.
Super 34” bar heights are more limited, although we do have over 40 on display that can be made to order at super bar height. Take a look at this correct stool height cheat sheet to help in finding the stool height for your home. Tip #3: To swivel or not to swivel. With so many homes built (and remodeled) with open floor plans, this is a good idea to ponder. People like movement so people will choose a swivel hands down every time. It also aids in climbing into and out of a barstool with ease and allows Mr. Johnson to turn and watch the football game so he doesn’t miss the big play. If you’re worried about children bumping the counter when they swivel, opt for a padded back. Stationary stools tend to lean towards a simpler, less traditional look. If you’re the organized type, seeing 4 stationary stools up at the counter gives off a cleaner appearance. Tip #4: Your stools don’t have to match your cabinetry. They can match, of course, and we see customers who love this look, but it’s not the only option.
With so many choices in kitchen and bar designs, from the backsplash to the cabinetry and everything in between, you have options. Pulling colors from other areas of your kitchen and great room to use as a color guide on the stool frame or upholstery will help coordinate your stools to the rest of your furniture without feeling stale. Think about pulling out the color of your hardware, swirls in your counter top, and accents in window treatments and furniture.Check back next week for more selection tips in Tips for Selecting Kitchen and Bar Stools: Part Two.Gone are the days of stools blending into the background. These incredibly designed pieces demand attention.The Best Chair Glides For Minimizing Scratches Instead of PVC glides or stick-on felt choose a combination of the two Issue 199 (Kitchens & Baths) Our kitchen has an elevated pedestal table where my wife and I eat just about all our meals, perched atop tall barstools. The red-oak floor below is finished with three coats of clear, oil-based polyurethane.
When I built the kitchen, I was pretty sure this table would get a lot of use, so I installed nail-on PVC chair glides on the legs of each stool to minimize floor scratches. In no time at all, though, there were plenty of scratches. My wife, trying to make me feel better, suggested that the floor wasn’t actually scratched. Instead, the plastic glides were leaving plastic deposits on the floor as the stools were moved around. Whatever those marks were, they were ugly, so at the suggestion of a seasoned kitchen designer and barstool sitter, I replaced the PVC glides with stick-on felt pads. The floor marking stopped, but the stick-on pads, which are fine for stationary furniture such as tables, have shown a tendency not to stick very long on the barstool legs. It turns out that a combo glide—felt on a plastic base with a mechanical connection to the leg—is the way to go. Charles Peterson, a professional floor finisher in Gales Ferry, Conn., polled a community of floor finishers around the country.
They came to the same conclusion, with this caution: It’s important to keep the floor swept on a regular basis to minimize grit; otherwise the felt pads will turn into little grinding wheels. Incidentally, the PVC glides, which look like big tacks with thick heads, make excellent push pins for our wine-cork bulletin board. Photos by: Charles Miller Get home building tips, offers, and expert advice in your inbox Tiny House in New Orleans These homes were inspired by "shotgun houses" that were first built in New Orleans around 1850. Video Vault: Stone Veneering Little Tiny Tiny House Ah, To Be Warm ... A Magical Design Process Rooms with a View "I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K. Decks and Outdoor Projects, Vol. 7 The New Small House All New Building Decks Issue 265 - March 2017 Paint Problems and How to Prevent Them
Dress Up a Gable With Shiplap Siding Issue 264 – January 2017 The Right Header for Every Wall SIP 52 - Remodeling, Renovations, and Repairs Contents - Remodeling, Renovations, and Repairs Confidence Is Your Most Important Tool Glass in the Garden Issue 263 - Kitchens & Baths 2016 The Trend is Transitional K&B: From Concept to Completion Gallery: More Inspiration From Our K&B Issue 2016 Issue 262 - October/November 2016 Make a Built-in Breakfast Nook Slab Foundation for Cold Climates Bungalow on a Budget Subscribe to Fine Homebuilding magazine now and save up to 52% Page 1 of 3Want to learn how to upholster the seat of your dining room chairs? I have a fabulous tutorial for you today….. a step by step picture tutorial on how to upholster dining room chairs! upholstering dining room chairs actually a lot easier than i thought it would be. this was my first hack at any sort of upholstering and i think more upholstery is in my future.
i thought it was really fun. and the chairs turned out perfect! oh and i guess using pretty fabric helped too. haha this is davis and i scored a nice dining room table with 6 chairs on craig’s list. very sturdy with great lines. but i really had my heart set on having soft dining room seating and really wanted some color on the seats for a change….. so we decided to upholster the chairs. and yes, davis helped me. we like to work on bigger projects like this together. makes for some fun memories!! {i.e. a paint fight, water war, etc} -1″ high density foam {you can also use cotton batting} -staples {you’ll need a lot} -foam adhesive {must be rated for foam. i used a spray foam adhesive found at the craft store} 1. first remove the seat from your chair using a screw driver. {be sure to put the screws in a place where you can find them later!} 2. using your chair seat, create a cardboard template that is 1/4″ bigger on all sides. if your chairs are squarish, mark which is from and which is back.
with mine, it is pretty obvious so i did not bother marking front and back. 3. using your cardboard template, trace and cut foam for each chair. *TIP: a turkey carver works great to cut foam! i could not find a turkey carver in stores yet {not quite turkey season yet!}, so i used scissors. 4. we applied adhesive to the top of the seat and to one side of the foam. you will want to follow the instructions on your adhesive and apply accordingly. it may be different than the one we used. NOTE: I will admit, I tried to skip the adhesive . {commitment phobia. what if the upholstery didn’t turn out? then I’d be stuck with glue all over my seats….} but I found out the hard way that it is loads easier to adhere the foam to the seat….. it stays in place and makes the next steps so much easier! so learn from my mistake and don’t try to skip the adhesive. 5. as per our adhesive’s instructions, we allowed the adhesive to dry for a couple minutes before placing the foam on it.
this gave us a permanent bond. be sure to follow the instructions on your adhesive. 6. determine what size of fabric you’ll need for each seat: measure the width of your seat across top and sides including the foam. {basically measure from the floor up over and across the width and down to the floor on the other side.} then measure the front to back of the seat including the foam and the seat thickness. add 4″ to each measurement. TIP: make sure you know which measurement is for the seat’s width and which measurement is for the seat’s length. this helps when cutting fabric with a pattern or design. 7. cut your fabric in the size that you determined in Step 5. i cut mine to be 28″x30″. TIP: be sure that you cut your fabric pieces with regards to the fabric print so that your design will be in the correct direction when you’ve applied it to the seat. 8. grab that staple gun and get ready for some fun! lay your fabric on a clean, flat surface and place your seat on top with the foam side down.
start on one side and fold fabric over the seat. pull firmly, but not too tight. then place one staple between your fingers {be sure not to get your fingers!} so that you don’t get “staple pulls”. TIP: do not staple next to your fingers. because when you take your fingers away, there will be lines or “staple pulls” in the fabric. {yes, we had to pull out a few staples…} 9. place one staple on the opposite side. 10. and a staple on the 3rd side. 11. and a staple in the 4th side. then go and fill in each side with staples. each time you place a staple, place one on the opposite side. {sorry for the shoe in there. G-man decided the shot needed a shoe in it! lol and i didn’t see it until i was editing my pics. 12. staple the fabric until you have staples about every 1-2″. it should look something like this. 13. using your scissors, snip off the excess fabric in the corners leaving about 2″ to fold over to finish your corner as shown in the next step.
14. fold over your corner fabric and play with the pleats until you like how they look. then place 2-3 staples to hold in place. TIP: make a mental note of how you did the first corner so that you can do the remaining corners the same. there will be pleats in your corners no matter how you do it, the key is to make all the corners look the same. {ok, so that’s easier said than done. i doubt no one will notice if all your corners are a little different. like mine.:} 15. staple the other 3 corners in place.16. flip over your seat and ta-da! you have a beautifully upholstered seat. and adjust any sections with more staples as needed. {turning over that first one was scary and exciting. what had i done? did it work??} 17. reattach the seat to the chair with your screws and screwdriver and you’re done! way to go on upholstering your dining room chairs! that was easier than you thought it would be, right?? and if you have kids/pets, you may want to do this one last step….