How to upholster a Bench (easy tutorial)

Living room space...It all started with a lack of it.. baby toys, play pen, baby in motion... Did I mention the baby? :D

Our Living room functions as a dining room too, so my genius husband suggested to put a bench instead of chairs with our dining table to maximise the space. You can slide it underneath when you not using it! So perfect! After some research I have found this as a contender for an upholstery experiment:

As sitting on a hard bench doesn't translate to a welcoming atmosphere, I wanted to upholster it and you can follow this tutorial to see how I did it.

Follow the steps below and you can make one yourself in no time!

What do you need to upholster a bench?

• A bench. Get a second hand one from places like Facebook marketplace, Ebay, Gumtree etc.

• Upholstery grade fabric. (Like soft furnishing fabric or if vintage - curtains might work). Let me know in the comments if you need suggestions of places to get this from.

• Polyester wadding. This goes between foam and your top fabric to stop it from sliding and softens the edges of the foam.

• Foam cut to the size of your bench flat surface

• Staple gun (if you don't want your hand to fall off, use the electric one - easier. Though if it will be one off project, buy a hand held one)

• Staples to fit your staple gun

• Hot glue gun

• Glue (for the hot glue gun)

• Fabric Scissors

• Jute rope (or other material for decoration, Optional)

If also painting:

• Wood Paint, I used chalk paint. Sample size is enough.

• Paint brush

• Water in a glass or a cup you no longer need

• Furniture wax (or other method of protection for the painted wood)

• Lint free cloth ( that cloth particles won't be left on your furniture after polishing waxed areas)

Step 1. Painting the legs.

Paint the legs the colour you want. As I have used chalk paint for this, I didn't need to sand anything, also wood was in a good condition, so no need to fill in any dents. Have a look at your wood surface and decide what you can live with.

I find it easier to paint and it looks better if I dip the paint brush in a BIT of water before taking the paint on it and then painting the surface. The brush needs to be just a little bit wet and I used two coats overall.

After paint is completely dry, you will need to wax it, I did it twice (read instructions on the packaging). When it's all dry move to step 2.

Step 2. Cutting the foam.

Cut the foam to the size of your bench top. (You can order pre-cut to the size you need to save time) I don't have any fancy tools so I used scissors for this, which I can tell you is a big No No in the upholstery world. Other method I have seen: spray the foam with silicon spray and then slice with the knife, should go through smoothly.

Step 3. Stapling.

It depends where are you doing your project, but for this step put a cloth on the floor to protect your work, then put down the wadding, then the foam and then the bench on top of it like this:

Start stapling from the side. Pull the lining taught, but not hard enough to tear it, hold it and staple it to the bench. Do the one side then do the opposite, checking that lining is nice and tight. Finish all sides but leave the corners.

Step 4. Stapling corners.

Do the corners. Follow the picture guide below: Staple one time on picture 2 then on the 4th. The last thing left is to cut the excess wadding.

Step 5. Adding the main fabric.

Now repeat the same process as above, but this time with the main fabric.

Trim any access fabric you don't need, try to make it neat ;) Now, at this stage if you want to do it professionally, you would cover your staples with different fabric (any fabric) just to make it look nice, but as I did this for myself, I must confess, was too lazy to do it :)))

Step 6. Adding the trim.

As my fabric was plain, to make it look a bit more interesting I added a jute rope detailing. Of course you don't need to do it, if you don't fancy it, but it might add a little bit of something extra to the project. You need to heat up your glue gun and start glueing!

Soo process is quite simple, start from the side you might not look at too often ;)

Stick the first bit of rope and work your way around, try to not put too much glue at one time as it will be seen. I cut in the rope at the beginning and at the end at the angle, so just to make sure it joins more neatly with each other.

Step 7. Result - upholstered bench!

Celebrate your success! Now you learnt how to upholster a bench, what else is out there?! You have a space saving, beautiful and comfortable solution for your room and you made it yourself! It is a great feeling isn't? Where is that champagne?

If you like sharing on social media, tag me in (Loveremade on Instagram and Facebook) I would love to see your project!

So voila! Please let me know if you liked this tutorial, have any questions or want to share your success in the comments below.

If I can do it, you can too!

Love,

Agne x

#diy #Furniture #Upcycle #Bench #Upholstery #shabbychic