Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

| By | | 458 Comments

Thrifting Vintage Wooden Stools For The Kitchen

Soooooo smething crazy happened. Here’s a little hint:

Stools11

It all started when John and I were lying in bed one night talking about what we’d love to do to make the sunroom more useful slash function slash awesome (it’s currently packed with secret book projects, but come fall we can finally clear it out for a charity auction – and hopefully start working on making it a room that we actually hang out in). We came up with the idea of a long chunky floating bar/counter made from rustic imperfect wood with a few stools pulled up to it along one currently unused wall. You know, sort of like this one or this one (but not exactly like either one of them for reasons we’ll get into down the line).

A chunky little wood bar along one wall in there with some simple pull-up stools would be super functional for us because:

  • we wouldn’t have to put a big table in the middle of the room for reading the paper, sipping drinks, snacking, and general chillaxing (which means the daybed won’t be too cramped and can stay in there – yay!)
  • when we have Clara’s annual party or just invite people over to hang out, we usually set out food and stuff in the sunroom (so everyone can mill around in there, on the upper patio and on the lower patio) so having a built in bar for setting out all the food and drinks instead of dragging various pieces of furniture into the room and tossing a tablecloth over them would be really nice

SOLD.

So the the next morning I dove into a daydream about how it would be fun to make that cool chunky wood bar/counter for the stools ourselves with some old hunk of wood and some simple brackets – just to add some rustic edge to the space and to make it less precious at parties (no real worries about drink rings since we’d stain it dark and seal it to protect it). And then I started thinking about how I’d want the stools to be counter height since the ones in the kitchen have worked out so well (they’re not as high and teetery as bar height chairs) so I mindlessly just typed in craigslist.org and searched “stools.” And then – I kid you not – the top entry made me suck air. Audibly. They were the. coolest. stools. ever.

You think I’m kidding. Check these babies out:

Stool Pic

Forty bucks a pop, retro slatted wood with molded seats, cool dark iron hardware on them, and get this – THEY SWIVEL! The funny thing is when I googled around for similar stools, a few nearly identical versions popped up, like href=”http://guffonline.blogspot.com/2010/02/vintage-wood-and-iron-barstools.html” target=”_blank”> these for $85 a pop, and these for almost $120. So to get them for $40 each really saved us a ton (we got four for about the price of one and a half).

So… SOLD FOR SURE.

Well, actually not sold until I showed them to John (we both have to sign off on things, so sometimes things are dead in the water when the second person nixes them) but lo and behold, John didn’t just like them, he loved them. And actually demanded (nicely) that I call about them “right now before they’re gone.” All the good stuff is always snatched up off of our Craigslist within the day things are listed, so I ran my buns to the phone and made that call.

So then they were SOLD FOR REAL! To us. Wahoo.

When we got them into the house we were chatting about how wood stools with a chunky wood counter/bar would be a lot of wood – but it would be a huge shame to paint the chairs since they’re so cool and slatted and vintage and all that jazz. So we decided we could make a sleek white counter instead of a wood one in the sunroom. But then a better idea came into the play. That’s when the bright idea to bring them into the kitchen popped up (duh, there’s already a white counter in there).

Stools9

SOLD!

Long story long, John and I loved them so much in the kitchen that we decided that our fun blue metal stools would be awesome for the rustic sunroom bar. Rough chunky wood sounds pretty fun paired with sleek boldly painted metal, right? So it’s totally weird that I ever even went on craigslist to look for stools… and then the fact that I found some, fell in love, chain-reactioned John into falling in love, and ended up with them is all kind of a whirlwind. We’re taking it as a sign that they’re meant to be.

Stools6

They’re just so darn pretty in the kitchen with the rich cork floors, our chunky wood cutting boards, and even things like the woven light and the wood mirror by the fireplace. So… SOLD ALL OVER AGAIN.

And now I will wow you with how many angles I can photograph our new stools:

Stools1

Stools3

Stools5

Stools8

We love our blue guys too, so who knows, maybe they’ll come back in the spring or something when we’re feeling flirty. Haha. And who knows, maybe once the sunroom’s done we’ll ultimately love the wood stools in there and the blue guys might end up back in the kitchen. Either way, it’s pretty hilarious that we have two stool sets going on, but at least they were both really affordable (we got the first set from an online school supply store for $32 each) and we’re truly in love with both of them… and have a functional use in mind for both sets. Just don’t ask us who our favorite stool baby is. We love them all equally. Although if they’re jockeying for most comfortable, the new guys definitely have a bit of an edge with the curved seat and the swivel-action. Dinners at the peninsula just got more fun swivel-tastic. As for what Clara does, she has the yellow highchair I painted for her, so we just move that around to various places (peninsula, dining table, living room pedestal table) and she eats in that. Girl gets around. Haha.

In short: Party at our house. We’ll bring the stools. And probably say SOLD a lot.

Oh and we just used these things on the feet. Just to make sure they don’t do evil things to our cork floor. So far, so good.

Stools12

Now that we have more natural wood in the room, we’re thinking about bringing some up onto the floating shelves on the other side of the kitchen, just because the wood mirror and our new (old) swivel stools have warmed things up and added so much texture and “homey-ness” that we’d love to add some to the open shelves too. Maybe just in the form of some rustic wooden salad bowls…

Stools13

Have you guys gotten ahead of yourself and ended up getting something for a future project just because it was too good to pass up? And once you got it home did it end up shifting other things around in surprising ways? So funny how things mutate as ya go. It’s like our house is a ninja turtle.

Pssst- Our newest addition of Clara Conversations is up over on Young House Life. We might be biased, but we think she’s is pretty hilarious…

Comments

  2. Jenn says

    I was (am?) so in love with the blue stools that I even asked my husband if we could get something similar for our kitchen. However, these wooden stools just add so much warmth and coziness to a generally not-so-cozy space. Excellent find! I can’t wait to see the blue stools in the sun room. They will look phenomenal at a rustic wood counter.

    Reply

  4. Claire @ Claire K Creations says

    I love them too!

    I should probably start sticking to your rule of you both having to love something. I brought home a painting yesterday (got it for $5!) with thoughts of doing something like your ‘all you need is love’ painting. Mine is very 80s style right now but I love the colours. Hubs disagrees. Hopefully once I’ve done it up he’ll love it too!

    Reply

  6. Melissa van Herksen says

    Wow, I love those stools. I really wish we had craigslist or Goodwill in Chile…no such luck. But i know those stools well…my grandmother had the same ones in Miami when I was little. She bought them in the 60’s in South Florida…how cool is that!?!?!?!?!

    Reply

  7. Marina says

    I know this is going to sound crazy, but it took me less than a nano second to figure out the surprise from looking at the 1st photo. Those cute little wooden ‘fans’ peeking out from behind the counter are just fantastic!!

    Like (a lot really!) the other stools, LOVE these stools!

    Reply

  8. Lori says

    Just buying another house and I’ve been on the hunt for some really neat looking counter height stools (breakfast bar at the new house). Then I clicked my way over here to see these little beauties last night and fell. in. love. Showed them to my husband and he loved them too – “quirky” he says. Told him that THOSE are the chairs I saw working in our new house. He agreed. So it was set…
    Hopped on Craigslist first thing this morning and #8 down the list for me was a picture of these same bar stools!!!!! I could hardly believe it! I emailed immediately and they were available – 1.45 hours away, but available. I climbed in the van and took a road trip today. We are now the proud owners of four of these same stools! $100 (including gas) for those babies! Is that not just totally cool?!?!?!
    Your great find made way to our inspiration too! I just knew we could find something that wasn’t like every other stool out there! Thanks!
    However, now they have to sit in our “packing room” (the empty dining room) till the beginning of March because we don’t move into our house until then.
    BTW – we live in VA too – neighbor!

    Reply

  9. Paola says

    I had the SAME exact chairs inherited from my in-laws and I didn’t have the same vision of yours! I sold all of them sooooooo cheap (I think it was $5 each) just because it looked outdated for me (well, my whole kitchen is outdated, so I guess they don’t have the same afffect as they do on your amazing kitchen! Haha)….so funny to see them being so loved on your space! :):):):) Should have sold them for more!! LOL

    Reply

  11. Grace Shim says

    As they say in sports radio, “Long time, first time.”. =)

    Well, last night, I was reading an old Vogue magazine – November 2011 issue with Rooney Mara on the cover. Looky what I scoped in an article about Annie Leibovitz’s new photography book. Look at the second picture in the slideshow… =) Anything look familiar? =)

    http://www.vogue.com/magazine/article/annie-leibovitzs-odyssey/#

    How random~! Love me some random.

    All the best.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hahahahah- that’s so funny! I love Annie! I actually used to work with her on Got Milk, so I like to think of her as an old friend. She is amazing to work with!

      xo
      s

  12. Kristin F says

    You asked if we had scored bargains for future projects so I just have to brag. We are in the planning stages for a kitchen re-do and, like you guys, are trying to do it on a budget and lots of elbow grease. So we are already on the lookout for the items we need. Every now and then we pop into Sears or the big box stores just to see…..hoo-ya, we got some deals! We bought a brand-spankin new, open box, stainless 5 burner cooktop at Sears for $689 (retail=$1200) last month.
    Felt pretty great about that until last weekend as we were trying to finagle a floor model deal on a fridge my husband whispers to me urgently to follow him down an aisle. Sweet glory, there was a Frigidaire Pro stainless wall oven for only $819! Brand-new, was a special order that was returned. Checked on the smartphone, retails for about $1800 and is 5 star rated. We literally put it on the cart, rented the Lowe’s truck and took that baby home in about a half hour. When you get $1000 off an appliance, you take it! Quickly! So for the cost of one appliance we’ve now got two! Color me ecstatic!

    Reply

  13. Andrea B says

    I LOVE the new stools! You have so much green and blue together in our house that while the blue stools were very cool, and blended well with the rest of your home, everything started to look the same and they fail in comparison to these beautiful wood ones. The contrast between the rustic wood and the clean lines of the countertop and everthing else is just beautiful! I think you’ve found a winner! They definitely set your kitchen apart from the rest of the house.

    Reply

  14. diane says

    They look great…I have thought for a while that your new kitchen, while gorgeous, could use the warmth of more wood. Lucky find! Don’t you just love it when that happens?

    Reply

  17. Brenda says

    These look awesome in the kitchen, I wouldn’t have thought it till I saw the photos, but way better than the old stools, makes everything look so put together. I agree the old ones would go great in the sun room though!

    Reply

  18. Arianne says

    craziness – would you believe that i have these EXACT stools in my house? we have 4 of them around our wetbar. they belonged to my mom (so i grew up with them). we’ve had them at least 30 years and they still look and work great. enjoy.

    Reply

  20. Luke says

    I relate to the journey of finding balance between lots of wood and lots of color. When I moved out on my own, most of my furniture and accessories were wood or neutral, which had looked fantastic with strongly colored walls. However, every one of my rentals has had firm rules about painting, and landlord’s-choice-white made everything feel very boring. As I upgraded, I’ve added lots of color. For my current apartment, I took the plunge and installed curtain rods with gorgeous drapes. However, I felt like the additional color tipped me into almost literal overkill with red drapes, predominately red rug, and lots of red pillows, plus several pieces of art that featured red. I’ve edited the pillows and cut in some of my older, wood and neutral pieces. It’s really lightened the mood for summer.

    Reply

  23. Amber says

    I really like how the warm wood of these stools makes the greenish walls pop out now, but I love wood and white + pops of color. I think the natural brown stools make the whole room seem a little more ‘grown up’ now. But I liked the blue ones too. Nice that you have another room to try those in!

    Reply

  26. Kelly says

    How long is that counter? Someday when we do a whole kitchen renovation, I would like to have a peninsula that seats 4 in that formation: 3 on one side and the fourth on the end. Have you had 4 people sitting there for a meal, and is it comfortable? Based on your experience, what’s the minimal length you think would be workable without the people being to squished? Thank you in advance; the answer would be very helpful to me! Love you guys!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Our peninsula is 3′ x 5′ and it’s a pretty comfy fit (don’t think it should be much smaller to fit people without bumping legs). Of course it depends on stool size too (anything wider might feel cramped). Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  27. Cindy says

    There are 4 more just like them that were listed on Craigslist for $25 each in Winston-Salem…not my listing but if anyone is close by…good deal

    Reply

  29. Louise says

    I have those very same stools, but only have two of them. I’m planning to paint mine, however. But one thing I’m really interested in is the hanging light in your first photo. I found one that looks nearly the same as yours on the street when some neighbors moved. Mine is made of a rattan sort of material and I’m going to spray it silver and hang it over my kitchen table. What is yours made from? Did you paint it or did you buy/find it this way?

    Reply

  33. Dr Joanna Ecke says

    I’m standing in for your mothers here: it’s not “John and I were LAYING in bed,” it’s “John and I were LYING in bed.” You lay down a track, lay bricks, as in something you do to some thing. Past tense of lie, though, is indeed lay, as in “when John and I LAY in bed last night, we etc etc.”

    Otherwise your writing is delightful. Your mothers will thank me for raising the style level. Mothers are like that. Joanna, a former VIrginian.

    Reply

  34. R. Adams says

    I have these stools- handed down from generations on my husbands side. We had to retire them while the kids were young they tip VERY easily. We have had many scares. they also tip when a coat is placed on the back. Just a warning – I have multiple gouges in my wood floor, lucky enough no damage to the kids – aside from tears and scares. Please reconsider if your child will use them.

    Reply

  36. joepy says

    I always love your house, the way you arrange your it and you always inspired me for my new house. I get some of your ideas from decorating to all part of your house.

    Reply

Stuff We Love

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *