Craft with Confidence: The Bench Make Over.

12.18.2010

The Bench Make Over.

A few months back, in the peak of yard sale season, I stopped by a joint sale put on by several of my neighbors. It was near the end, so the majority of the items I found, they just gave to me. But this item, the old owner was planning to take it home if it didn't sell. But she gave it to me for $3! Score!

The legs were ugly gold, slightly tarnished.

And the white seat was stained.

So I bought it with the idea to recover and paint it. It sat there for months as is, until the idea of lots of people coming into my home for the baby shower spurred me to action. I bought a yard of fabric from IKEA for $7/yd (expensive, but worth it!) and some spray paint from WalMart for $3, and went to work.

I had planned to do a whole tutorial, but then two things happened:

1. I realized that the chances of anyone having this bench too was slim,
2. I was too excited to get it done that I forgot to take pictures the whole way through! oops.

But I will give you some basics.

First, remove the legs from the seat, spray paint legs in the garage (and forget to take pictures...)

Then, remove the old fabric. There was a black cover to hide the bulk of the white fabric and give it a nice edge, secured by staples. I used a screw driver to pry them loose, and kept the black cover to reuse it.

Of course, it is impossible to do any project on the ground without help.

After the black piece is gone, remove the fabric. Make sure to watch how it was put together, so you can recover it in the same manner.

I was happy to find that there was a muslin layer under the main fabric. This meant that I didn't have to worry about placing the padding! I used Febreze to get out any left over smell (which, luckily, this didn't have. . .)

I laid out the old fabric flat and used it as a pattern for the new. This picture doesn't help much, but I swear they are the same size!

Here's where I got giddy and forgot the camera. After trying to borrow a staple gun from either set of parents without success, we decided to invest in our own.

I love this thing. It made me feel super powerful.

To recover, I laid the fabric right side down, like it is above, and centered the seat on the fabric. Using the awesome stapler, I secured the corners on the same long side, then secured the long side in between them. Then I moved to the other side and corners, pulling tight. Staple a lot to make sure it's secure. Then I added back the black piece for a finished look.

Attach the seat to the newly painted and dried legs, and BAM! A whole new look!