Footprint Step Stool

It’s possible I’m feeling a little sentimental. My baby does turn FOUR in less than a month.

How did that happen so fast?

Anyway, we’re working on making over our powder room. There was just something about the patterned wallpaper from 1986 that wasn’t going to work in this century. I’m crushing on the grey and yellow combo lately, so that’s what inspired the overall color scheme for the powder room and for this mini step stool makeover. (And, yes, I will show you what’s happened in the powder room, but I’m not quite done with it yet. Stay tuned.)

It seems that during the preschool years hand and footprint art is all the rage. Who can blame them? Seeing our child’s tiny handprint or footprint forever captured with finger paint tugs on every single one of our maternal heartstrings. Since my baby is getting bigger (in other words, his feet won’t fit on the stool soon), it was time to jump on that bandwagon.

I have had this basic Safety 1st step stool for years. I don’t know where I got it. Maybe Target? It was great and functional, but it didn’t match a thing.

My first step was to spray paint the stool a glossy grey. I’m not brand loyal when it comes to spray paint, but I used Krylon this time. It took two coats and my patience to wait for it to dry. Then it was time to jazz it up.

So one day last week I got a wild hair to paint my 3 year old’s feet.

Can we say “living on the wild side?” 

All I had on hand was some yellow craft paint, so that’s what we used. I spread some paint on a paper plate and then had my son step on the plate. There’s probably a better method for this, but again, we were living on the wild side and winging this DIY project! After the paint was smeared on his foot (technical term), I brought the stool up to his foot and gently pressed.

Ba-da-bing, ba-da-bang it was done. It wasn’t perfect as there were some 3 year old wiggles involved, but it was perfect enough for me.

I finished it off with a couple of coats of a clear spray paint to protect the footprints.

There have been a few “Tor got paint on the step stool” moments!

He makes a fine leg model, doesn’t he?

Have a happy day!

Here are some other posts you might enjoy!

The Gift of Handmade

Clever Preschool Art

Books My Kids Are Reading Part 3

Kid Wisdom: Everyday Superpowers