I’ve had these croquet mallet heads from our old set in the scrap pile for a few years and always thought it would be neat to make something of them. There are many times that I’ve seen them while cleaning out the garage and thought how neat they might be to use as legs for a step stool.
So for my project this month I bought this thrifted cutting board under $5 ($2.99 to be exact)
made of pure maple hardwood.
I started out by cleaning off the stickers and residue using Goo Gone and trimming down the ends of the mallet heads.
Next I pre-drilled a hole in the top of them.
To stabalize the legs, I used spindles left over from my old changing table turned potting bench.
(You can read more about that here.)
Making a large enough hole in each head to fit the spindle end. I glued each end for extra reinforcement before screwing the heads into the top (of the cutting board). While the glue is drying is a good time to paint the top of the step stool. I used some paint I had in my paint stash (lamp black, satin sheen by Glidden).
After the glue was dry {or pretty close ;)} I pre-drilled a hold in the top of the board where each screw would be inserted.
Then secured the legs with drywall screws (around 2to2-1/2″ long).
After painting over the whole thing one more time, I had my little girl test it out.
Satisfied, I sanded the bottom of each leg to smooth them out. Then sanded the whole things a little to clean it up and rough up the edges, and painted the spindles.
Using my George and Basic Shapes cricket cartridge set at 2-1/2″,
I cut out a stencil.
Originally my husband and I thought it would be neat to have it say “Step Up Your Game” to go along with the recreational theme, but I didn’t feel it at the time…
so I just went with “Step Up”.
The rest could always be added later if we want.
Now those mallets are no longer going to be crying out to me from the scrap pile.
And the best part is that my children will have an easy step stool to grab so hand washing is in easier reach. Looks like we’ll all be stepping it up a notch! 😉
Don’t forget to check out these other amazing projects!
Shelstring 
This is awesome. I have so many croquet mallets to use–perfect repurpose!
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How perfectly repurposed!! You did a fantastic job, Michelle and I love your ingenuity. 😉
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Very creative! I just love the crochet mallet legs!! Super cute and useful too!
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Michelle,This is so creative and what a great use for the crochet mallets. Love this.Kris
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This is great. I love how it turned out!
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Cute….turned out wonderful.
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Very creative! I use to have some crochet mallets but sold at a garage sale few years back )-; Wish that I hadn't of now. I can always use another step stool. Thanks for sharing!
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