10 Dollar Bench Refab

Hi Everyone! I wanted to share with you my recently completed project, my first bench refab. This refab project only cost me some time, fabric, and a can of spray paint! How you ask? Well, the bench was given to me by a family member that was going to get rid of it! Let me give you my best advice people, if someone is offering you a piece of furniture and you take one look at it and turn away, you could be making a huge mistake. Just because it is a little outdated or has a scratch, or torn fabric doesn't mean it is no good...it means that it is ready for you to transform it into something lovely, that reflects your style. It's not ready for furniture heaven, so save it and reinvent it! And, that is exactly what I did with this guy!

Unfortunately I started this project before I entered the bloggy world, so I had already painted the legs. So here's a pic of the before that I do have (it is just the top of the bench with the old fabric).

Before it was reinvented, it was used at the end of the bed for a place for their cats to sleep on. It was a tad hairy and clawed up a bit, and the fabric was not my style at all.

My first thought was to use this in a similar way, at the end of the bed as a place to put pillows on at night, or to sit down and put my socks and shoes on in the morning. In order for it to work with our master bedroom, I had to find a fabric that flowed nicely with our room, a grey would be perfect. After spending some time in the fabric store and unable to decide on a pattern, I threw my hands up. Well, if you can't bring a pattern into a room, then you should bring in a texture. I found this grey fabric that resembled corduroy, perfecto!

Well, the night that I decided I was going to sit down and finish this one off, my eyes began to wander. I was thinking about how we are always bringing out our fold out chairs for dinners and get togethers and dragging them outside or end up with them around the table, and I didn't realize until that moment how much I loathe those folding chairs.

I broke out the tape measure and realized this bench would go so great under the large window in our dining room. It was a perfect fit, and when the hubs sat down at it, it was a surprisingly good height for the dining room table. This could provide 2 extra seats as well as some aesthetics, SOLD! There is only one problem with this scenario, I used the gray corduroy to cover it and my colors downstairs are very earthy with tans, greens, and oranges (it is very fall oriented). In the end, I think it will be used in the master, but I know what the solution to my folding chair problem is, so I am on the search for a new bench that needs a breathe of life, that I can incorporate into the function of our dining room.

Here's a look at the finished project, under the window. Soon to be moved to the master...

My simple instructions:

• removed the legs and sanded, primed, and painted white
• removed the bottom layer of fabric and all of the staples
• cut my fabric to size (I bought 1.7 yards for 6 dollars at Old Time Pottery, and I have plenty left over..pillows?)
• wrapped the bench and stapled the fabric on the bottom with my staple gun
• The corners were a little tricky (as you can tell..hey, it was my first bench)
• screwed the legs back in and it was ready to go

Thanks for reading! :)