1960’s COSCO Hourglass Counter Stool Restoration

I drove down to Manteca, California a few months back because we needed some stools for our kitchen counter. I had been wanting to get my hands on a couple of vintage Cosco stools and this was my opportunity.

The metal parts of the stools were in rough shape. There was a lot of surface rust on the chrome, but I have a trick for that!

The first thing I had to do was separate the upholstered backrest and seat portions from the metal frame.

I separated the fabric from the cushions. Not pretty, but it will be recovered soon!

Here is the bottom of the seat cushion of the stool

Here is the seat bottom frame. This chair has an archaic bearing system. It is made up of metal bearings with wood spacers. They sit loosely in the bottom seat pan….crazy!

Next, I had to prep the metal seat backs and bottoms. I decided to spray them a cream color.

Once they were sprayed I hung them with wires until they were dry.

Then, I turned my attention to the chrome frames. As you can see, they have a good amount of surface rust.

A cheap alternative to using a buffing wheel to remove surface rust from chrome is to use a cleaner like Awesome and some 0000 steel wool. A lot of folks with chrome dinettes use this process to rejuvenate the chrome surfaces. Unfortunately, if this process is used over a long period of time it will dull the chrome finish. I prefer dull over rust….how about you?

I had some leftover Robert Kaufman discontinued “Boomerang Beat” fabric from our Modern Craft Furniture Mfg. Co.reupholstery job that I thought would look great on these stools.

The great thing about these stools is that once the upholstery is attached, the metal backing clamps it into place. It is the same for the seat bottom.

Now that I’ve the upholstery on this stool just two more to go!

Here they are!

I am very pleased with how they turned out.