How to Reupholster a Stool

Earlier this year, I posted about two cross-bar stools.  At the time, I spray painted the legs black, but knew that I eventually wanted to recover them.  I am embarrassed to say that I never finished the post; therefore, I started where I had left-off finishing this project just prior to the birth of baby #2.  Though that was 6 weeks ago, I'm just getting around to publishing the post.
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My sister-in-law, who is an interior designer/owner of Kathryn Robertson, suggested that I get cross bar stools to put in front of my fireplace.  What a great idea!  Only....I could not find affordable upholstered stools.

I felt confident that I could find an alternative and found great stools for $60 each at Sears/Kmart. 
Not a bad deal!  I never liked the cherry finish, so I spray-painted them with high-gloss black Krylon spraypoint.  (Sorry-I deleted pictures of the stool!)

About two months ago, I was at U-Fab and spotted the perfect fabric for these stools, which I purchased, but they remained uncovered until last week.  In an effort to distract myself from the impending birth of baby #2, I decided to bite the bullet and recover the stools.  The process ended up being easier than I thought:

As with any reupholstry project, begin by deconstructing the furniture noting how the piece was put together.  Taking pictures is a good idea for helping you remember how to re-assemble the piece.

First, I removed the legs, then I removed the black fabric that lined the bottom of the stools.

Next, I used scissors and pliers to remove the leopard fabric.  The original stools were tufted, and when I began the reupholstry project, I thought I would tuft my stools, but ended-up deciding again it.  If your stools are tufted, pay careful attention to how the buttons are attached to the bottom of the stool.

 I tried to remove as much of the fabric and staples as I could, but it was difficult to get it all.

Next, I cut my two yards of fabric into two, one-yard pieces.  I centered the foam wrapped frame on top of the fabric (upside down) being sure to line-up the pattern--just eyeballing it.

Next I stapled a center staple on all for sides making sure to fabric had equal tension on all sides and that the pattern was straight.  Next, I added many staples to the sides until I got near the corners.

Decide how you want your fabric to fold at the corners--play around with it a bit--then pick a method for folding.  Use the same method for folding on every corner.

Be sure to cut back the fabric so that is doesn't cover the holes where you will re-attach the legs of the stool:

This project didn't take too long since I decided not to tuft the stools.

Here are the before and after stools pictured together:

After:

Thanks for reading!
Carson