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Boring to Beauty – A Bench Makeover

 

A few weeks back I did my first Periscope. To say I was nervous is an understatement. I’m not very natural in front of the camera and having people watch me live makes me want to down a glass of Moscato. Cheers! Anyhow if you caught the broadcast then you’ll know that we’re making Ellie’s ‘baby room’ into more of a big girl room that she can grow into.

One of the pieces I found was an awesome vanity table with 7 drawers and a cute little bench to sit on. It’ll definitely be a piece that she can grow into. It’s solid wood and really sturdy, so I’m thanking my lucky stars that I snagged it up when I did! It came with this little bench that’s prefect for sitting on and tucks right in under. **I thought for sure I had taken a before photo of it, buuuuuuut turns out I didn’t. Which is sad because if anyone loves a good before & after comparison, it’s this girl. Anyhow, it was sporting this awesome navy material with these glitter threads throughout it and some firecracker looking things that were pretty much every color in the rainbow. It was really hard to part with it, but it had to be done, ha!

I go through these sewing phases where I’m convinced I can make nicer clothes then what I buy in the stores for cheaper (which is doable, just not for this girl) so I stock up on material every now and again. It comes in handy when I need material at the last-minute!

I chose this super awesome grey, white & mint material to cover the bench top with. I think with some gold accents on the vanity table it’ll look stellar!

What I needed:

 

  • Material
  • Rotary Cutter
  • Ruler
  • Mat to cut on
  • Staple Gun

 

The bench already had some padding so I didn’t alter it at all. It was a piece of plywood with some foam and then some batting over top.

I layed the bench top on the backside of my material and using the ruler and rotary cutter, scored the edge the whole way around, making sure to leave enough extra material to wrap around the bottom of the board.

Starting on the long side I pulled the material around the board and tried to keep as straight a line as I could. Using my staple gun I secured the material to the board leaving roughly 2″ between staples. Once the first side was done, I started on the opposite side pulling the material taught. Staple along the edge as you did the other side, keeping your line straight.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m no expert upholster…er (?) In fact, I can’t say I’ve ever done it before in my life, so this was a bit trial and error. I gathered the corner then folded up the edge, making sure all the material was tucked in the fold (almost like when you wrap a present). I gave it a couple of staples and went to the other corner and did the same. Once both corners were secured down I worked from the outside in until the side was complete. Repeat the steps on the opposite side and then flip that bench top over and admire your handi work!

The vanity table that I’m redoing is going to be a creamy white with grey undertones so I wanted to do the rest of the bench in another color so that it stood out a bit more but also tied in with the bench top.

I chose to paint the rest of the bench with Miss Mustard Seeds Milk Paint in ‘Schloss’. It’s more greige toned and would tie the material in with the color on the rest of the piece. I painted 2 good coats of the Schloss and then sealed it with clear wax. I opted not to use a bonding agent with the paint so it did get that chippy look in some spots. Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about the chippiness. We’ll wait and see until the whole thing is completed before I give a final opinion. With the bench complete I’ll need to get my butt in gear to finish the rest of it!

**I knew I had a before picture kicking around! Here’s what this little bench looked like before it’s revamp  

 

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