There are tons of these Ryan Gosling pictures out on the internet that cater to “woman fantasies.” But I saw this particular one about a month ago, right after I started this project. It COMPLETELY sums up the status of my garage.

Thank goodness I have a two car garage. One side to park my car, the other for tools and some of my “someday” projects, and a pull-down attic in the garage with some more “someday” project storage. My current “someday project” collection includes an old green and white polka dot chair that was my great grandmothers, a rocking horse Dee built for me, an end table someone gave to me, and this stool.

I’ve had this stool since I was a kid. Dee (short for Granddaddy because I couldn’t pronounce all of Granddaddy as a kid) built this stool for me. It’s been used over the years for various things, but I finally claimed it from my parents about a year ago. It’s been sitting in my garage since, while I figured out what I wanted to do with it. My first instinct was to paint it a bright color. But I also wanted something that would go with my current décor. My plan was to add a monogram detail to the top, as well.

I have a hard time taking risks with paint colors. I know it’s only paint and it’s easy to paint over something if it doesn’t work out. But picking a bold color is usually outside of my comfort zone. Bold colors aren’t versatile and I have a fear of choosing the wrong color. I planned on using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint for this project. I’ve done several pieces with it and I like that you don’t have to prime stained wood before painting. Chalk Paint is limited to a specific set of colors, which is good because it narrows the field down for me. I looked at a bunch of painted furniture for different color examples on Pinterest for Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I really liked the boldness of Barcelona. It’s this bright, deep, orange, which would complement the dark blues/navys in my living room. I also considered Arles, which is a more yellow, muted, orange. Part of me wishes I’d went with Arles…..but we’ll get to that.

I’d planned to disassemble the stool and paint all the pieces and put it back together. Well it didn’t want to come apart. The one screw I was able to get up started to tear the wood, so I decided to paint the whole thing as it was.

Once it was painted, I started looking at differnt font type faces for the monogram to go on top. I wanted a font with a capital “G” that had a big circular shape that was more round than oval. I wasn’t looking for a script/fancy looking font but something bold and block lettering typeface. I ended up sketching out this metal “G” I have on my wooden door corner bookcase.

I painted a couple coats of Annie Sloan pure white for the “G.” I was a little shocked/surprised/disappointed with the whole look. It screamed “Go Clemson” with the orange and white combo (should have painted it Emperor’s Silk and I would have a “Go State” themed stool)!

The Clemson look was definitely not what I was going for, so I decided to finish it off with some dark wax to change the color tone a bit and give it a more rustic/old look. Overall, I’m happy with how it turned out. It’s sitting in my entryway nook next to my great grandmother’s cedar chest and with this old metal cooler I refinished a couple of years ago.