Foot Stool Critique

[David Gilbert]

Hi, I participated in Dave Shawley's Coffee Table Critique and thought it might be fun to post a small project that I'm starting.

This is a foot stool that I am building for my daughter and is intended for an upholstery workshop our local woodworking group is putting on later this month. It will be made out of cherry and upholstered in a yet to be determined fabric. I will do pinned mortise and tenons at each joint but none of this is in the SketchUp model. The stool will be about 10 x 16 x 10" tall.

I'm adding this in response to Jamie Buxtron's comments. The details of the upholstery are still to be determined I will make both a plywood base and wooden collar to go inside the stool so that I can compare the different approaches.

I'm looking forward to your comments.

Thanks,
Dave
Foot stool SMC1.jpg Foot stool SMC2.jpg Foot stool SMC1.zip

[Jamie Buxton]

How is the upholstery part going to be done? I ask because some of the ways to do it might not be appropriate for this piece. For instance, a chairmaker might put webbing under the pad. That might make a nice seat, but might not be good for a footstool. Kids are inevitably going to be standing on your footstool. They should have a solid standing surface, not a squishy one. For instance, you might use a plywood base and thin padding.

[Jamie Buxton]

One more thought... I'd use a slip seat. A slip seat is a separate object which upholstered and then dropped into the furniture. The upholstery fabric drapes over the seat, wraps around the sides, and is stapled to the underside. A good thing about it is that all the fasteners are hidden underneath.

[John Schreiber]

David,

I don't know much about upholstery, but I would check with the person who is doing the demo to make sure it will fit.

Re. the design, I'm not sure about the spacing of the vertical pieces. Having the same number with different widths, sort of looks to me like a mouth with missing teeth on the front. I played with it a little in SU and I couldn't come up with anything better though.

If I were working on the design, I'd look at a lot of craftsman/mission furniture (which often features those kind of verticals) and look at how they do it. Look for similar stools, but to try and understand and to get inside the look - not to copy directly. I try to soak up the feeling of a style, then step away and do my own design.

[David Gilbert]

In January I started this thread asking for input about a design for my daughter's foot stool. I appreciated the comments and suggestions that I received.

Well nine months later the whole thing is done and here are some pictures. I've tried to mimic the SketchUp images I included earlier. The size changed to 13 x 17 x 11 inches high. The wood is a light cherry that was stained (dyed) with Transfast water soluble dyes. I used 90% dark mission brown and 10% dark red mahogany. The mission brown was a little flat by itself and the red mahogany was overpowering. I only needed a little bit of the red mahogany to move the tone to a warmer brown. I used hand chopped and cut mortise and tenon joinery. I dropped the upholstered seat into a recessed rabbit in the top since the fabric is pretty light. The rabbit should help protect the fabric from wear.

If you would like the SketchUp plans let me know and will send them to you. I believe that they are too large to be posted on SMC.

Cheers,