Make a Folding Stool in an Hour

I had some leftover canvas from the headboard project and decided to put it to use.  My three-year-old is a ukulele addict and needed a portable stool to serenade me non-stop in all rooms of the house.

There are so many possibilities with this stool, and it is totally scalable to any size person. It’s dirt-cheap if you use scraps you have laying around, and it’s still cheap if you have to buy a few materials. Once you build one, you can easily make a dozen more and sell them to people in line for the next iPhone release, Starwars movie or fools who shop at Trader Joes on Sunday.

What you’ll need:

 

If you plan to keep this outside, buy pressure-treated wood or cedar and use galvanized screws. Otherwise, plain-jane pine is fine.

What you’ll do:

Step 1

Determine your stool height and cut your wood accordingly.  I measured my son foot-to-knee (10 inches) and decided I wanted the seat to be about that height.  Because the boards cross like an X when folded out, I added an extra six inches in length to account for that and the slight dip of the seat.  That was just a guess and it turned out fine.

This part will be custom to you, but here are my measurements:
Pine 1×6 (1)- 16 inches
Pine 1×2 (2)- 16 inches
Pine 1×2 (2)- 8 ¾ inch- this is equal to the width of the other three boards lined up side by side.

Use this picture as a reference to customize your own size.

Step 2

Line up the equally sized 1×6 with a 1×2 on each side, then lay the shorter 1×2 across a few inches up from the bottom.

Glue, drill and screw the 1×2 laying across to the 1x2s on the sides.  The 1×6 is just there to make your spacing correct and to keep the frame straight, and to ensure a snug fit when you fold the stool together.

Step 3

Put the remaining 1×2 under the three lined up pieces at the top of the other end.  Drill, glue and screw from the same side (don’t flip the pieces over) so the screw heads show on both sides.  If you want the screw heads hidden, do the exact opposite.  I messed this up the first time and had to remove the screws and put them in the other side.  I like the contrast of the black screws on the pine, so I want the screws to show.

Step 4

At this point, the 1×6 is not attached to the 1x2s, but is should fit nice and tight between the frame.  With everything flat and lined up, measure the halfway mark and drill through the side of the 1×2 all the way into the side of the 1×6 as far as your drill will go. Screw in the long screws by hand or very carefully with an electric screwdriver or impact driver until it is flush but not overly tight.  You want it to be able to rotate.

Step 5

You should now be able to open your stool frame. With it open, decide how wide you want it to open (this will be the size of your seat), and measure and cut your fabric or canvas accordingly.  Make the fabric about an inch or two longer so that you have room to staple on each side of the frame.  You can alway cut off the excess when you are done.

Step 6

Staple your seat to both sides, checking to make sure the tension is the same across the seat. Staples are forgiving, so if it seems off, you can always remove and re-staple.  For a child, you can get away with two staples per strap on each side. For adults, it depends on the weight requirements.  If you fall through, well, you didn’t use enough.

I also wove strips vertically for aesthetics and super glued the ends underneath to make a basket weave look.  You could sew instead of super gluing, but I found my way to be fast and sturdy.  If you use solid fabric, you can skip this step entirely.

*These measurements are for a small, child sized stool.  For an adult stool, scale up and use a 1×8 or larger.  Email me for scaled dimensions.