Redoing a Piano Bench; Wood to Black- from Drab to Fab!!

Redoing a Piano Bench; Wood to Black- 

from Drab to Fab!!

Party Highlight by Christina's Adventures

I am so excited to show you this project...I can honestly say this was one of my FAVORITES EVER!! :)

I bought this bench last week at my local thrift store for $3.90. This was a rare find...the thrift store around here usually NEVER has interesting furniture...usually it's plastic-y, beyond repair, and over-priced. So I was really excited when I found this bench in great structural condition - just completely ugly!



Now, I have been drooling over all of these re-upholstered projects...and I have been so scared to try my own! I decided that since this bench was so cheap, and it was so simple to re-upholster (not like a crazy chair or anything)...I could try it! First step: primer!

Next step: spray paint the insideNext: painted the outside, legs, and undersideNow comes the fun part. Part of the reason I stayed away from re-upholstering...I had no staple gun! I assumed it was expensive...and we all know I couldn't afford that. However, I got one at Wal*Mart for $8.88! What?! I had no idea! So exciting! But before I could use my new stapler...I had to remove allllll of those lovely staples already in there.Ugh. I have many cuts on my thumbs now... :(

Enter...the new stapler!I cut my beautiful black and white fabric to size, pulled the corners tight, and stapled them into place first. I then went around the borders and put the remaining fabric.I had to also cut around the hinges. Then I used a cute small polka-dotted fabric to cover that ugly "wood"I just love black and white...and I wanted to add a little more interest to the inside...so I measured and the mod-podged some b&w scrapbook paper on the inside...Yes! Now I just had to re-attach the hinges...and I took it outside for a modeling shoot!! :)

Just look at how sophisticated she is now! I do think this is a true "Cinderella Story"!! And the re-upholstering was so much easier on this project than I thought it would be!!

Here's some more glamour shots...

Cost Breakdown:

Bench: $3.90

Paint: Leftover from my Kitchen Table project

Scrapbook paper: Around the house

Polkadot fabric: From my closet

B&W print fabric: Normally $9.99 a yard, got it for 50% off, plus 15% off (teacher discount), and I only bought 3/4 yard: $3.18

Staple gun: $8.88

Total Cost: $15.96

Plus- I now have a staple gun! Woohoo! :)

**UPDATE: I posted this on Craigslist on Sunday evening...and someone came to my house and bought it on Monday evening! YES! It will now be living in a chic black & white salon. So perfect!**

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Ballard Design Inspired DIY Striped Bench Tutorial

Ballard Designs Inspired 
DIY Striped Bench Tutorial

Party Highlight by Two Friends. Two Cities. One Vision.

I love Ballard Designs.  I get giddy when I open the mailbox and find a clean, crisp Ballard Designs magazine waiting for me.  I love the simplicity mixed with some vintage and mixed a little more with modern…unbelievable inspiration is found on every page.

Sweet P loves Ballard Designs too…taking an old magazine and designing a house for her ZhuZhu pets with cut out pictures of tables, chairs, mirrors and accessories.  I think we have a budding designer on our hands.

So this bench has been on my radar for years.  I love the honeycomb fabric that is all the rage and that was always how I envisioned the bench in my entry.  We definitely cannot nor would I ever pay the big price tag for the bench but I really, really wanted it.  So I was on a mission and searched the internet for ‘how to’ projects and tutorials but found nothing that looked like the Ballard Designs style bench.

And then my partner in crime, Angie, posted this and changed everything…for the good.  I fell in love with that chair!

After looking in a 10 mile radius of my house ended in utter failure, I drove clear across Houston to mother of all fabric stores, Glick’s.  I walked in and sweetly asked if they had a ‘large black and white stripe’ fabric.  She smiles and says ‘I don’t think so but let’s go look’.  My heart sank but I followed her to the back…it was like slow motion in a crazy dream where Javier Bardem is waiting for me in a dark alley.  Oh, sorry…did I just say that?

Ok, so I followed her, she points and says ‘something like this?’  I screamed YES!  Jumped up and down and I think I might have hugged her too….

$10 bucks later and I walked out with the most perfect black and white stripe fabric ever.

So…my wheels starting turning.  I couldn’t find a tutorial on a bench like I wanted…so the next best thing was to make it myself.  And I drove to Lowe’s…and this is how it all went down:

72″ MDF, cut down at Lowe’s to 60″:  $2.14

4 pine legs, 15″ tall: $6 each on sale

Valspar Black spray paint, satin finish:  $3.97

Foam padding from Hobby Lobby:  $16 after 25% off coupon

Quilt batting for softness:  $4.99 at Hobby Lobby

Fabric: $10

Dowel Screws: $3

My neighbor’s drill because ours was dead:  FREE

I measured the center of the pre-drilled hole in the table leg and marked the same spot on the corner of the MDF board.

I found old spindles in Round Top for $1 each…kept going back and eventually couldn’t figure out what I would do with them so left them behind.  Got home the next day and cried a river because I could have used them for my bench legs…live and learn.

Laid the legs in the driveway on painter’s plastic which has been used over…and over…and over….

This is 1 coat…I eventually used 4 coats of paint…did not take long at all.

My thought was to use the below screws, drill them in the board from the top and after the board was covered, screw the legs up into them.  That is WRONG! HA!  Didn’t work at all….

Another trip to Lowe’s and learned “Dowel Screws” are just what I needed.  They are double ended…one end screws up into the board underneath and the legs screw onto the other end.  Simple.  Who knew??  Now you do too!

Laid the foam on top of the board.  It was pretty wide and I was able to cut 3 layers of foam:

Using my kitchen serrated knife…don’t hate me because I am inventive…or crazy…or weird for using my knife.

Covered the 3 layers with quilt batting to give a more softer look and feel…

Stapled the quilt batting underneath to help stabilize the foam….and you can see one end of the dowel screw underneath.

Tightened it up with pliers…those are pliers, right??

Okay…this is interesting….the fabric I bought was only 54″ wide which is pretty much the standard.

Since I am making a ‘custom’ bench, I had to make custom fabric to fit the 60″ length.

So I laid the fabric on the bench, cut a piece to fit the remaining 12 inches.  I choose to match up the black stripe.  I flipped it so right sides were facing eachother, and pinned the pieces together…

Borrowed my neighbor’s sewing machine…because mine bit the dust and I haven’t had time to buy another one.  But I am completely in love with her machine, which she admits she never uses.

Sewed a straight line…and there you go…62″ fabric created..and no seams Mom!

Laid the new 62″ fabric on the bench (notice my little helper…she keeps me company)

Flipped the entire bench over.

Got out the staple gun which I did NOT borrow….and went to town.

Screwed the legs into the dowel screws once all the fabric was pulled tightly and stapled.  I did trim all the fabric underneath too.

There she is…standing on her legs for the first time.  I feel so proud…sniff, sniff.

And here she is…her new home in my entry.  The pillows are not staying…that is another tutorial coming your way.

Making this bench was my first ever ‘made from scratch’ piece I have ever done. I can paint the heck out of anything but was completely intimidated by drilling, cutting, tools, and stapling.

It was definitely a learning process and had I not made the second trip to Lowe’s for the dowel screws, the entire project probably took less than 2 hours to make.

$599 for a ready made bench OR 2 hours of creating and learning and about $65 of my pennies saved?

I’d do it again in heartbeat and it was so much fun.

Now I don’t know if I would sit on the bench but it sure does look pretty in my house!

Now go build something!

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Little Wooden Window Bench

Tracy at Tracy's Trinkets and Treasures had her hubby make a nice little wooden window bench for her dinning area.  This is such a sweet project:

My husband was tired of me nagging asking him to build me a bench for my bay window in the dining area so Friday we went to Lowe’s and got the wood to build it.

Knock Off Wood had the plans to build the bench that I had in mind.  You can see the post here.

After getting all of the wood pieces cut

my husband stayed up late to get it finished for me.

 

 

I think he did a great job.  After buying $30 worth of wood my sister comes by and informs me she has one of these in her attic that she bought for $5 at a garage sale.  Oh well.  I would rather have one my husband made just for me.  Plus it lets me talk about him on here which I told you he likes.

Ok here it is painted. 

  

Sometimes I think my glazing technique just makes things look dirty, this was my 2nd paint attempt because the first green made my bench look like a baby shower mint.

 

But I couldn’t leave well enough alone.  I found a cool stencil at Hobby Lobby this weekend that I wanted to try. 

I got out my favorite color of stencil paint (Folk Art in wrought iron) and my favorite stencil brush.

   

Now that the bench is done, I need to come up with something else for him to make so I can nag some more. 

It looks great and what a good hubby for making it!  I think that the stencil adds a nice little detail to the new little wooden window bench, don't you?   

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