Bench Update

Our newbee homeowner Kathryn is all about saving money and reusing things. Besides buying a bunch of fun things at Renninger’s Antique Extravaganza in February, she has been hitting garage and estate sales every Saturday morning.  And now she can now add dumpster diving to her DIY resume. When she spotted an old Ikea coffee table in a dumpster, she sent Darin in to retrieve it.

Kathryn wanted to turn her new treasure into a bench for her bedroom plus it would store the required TV electronic paraphernalia. The table was missing  a leg and had a few dents and dings but nothing that couldn’t be fixed by the wizard, Terry.

Kathryn asked me to make a cushion for the bench so we headed for JoAnne’s, and with a few of my coupons, picked up foam, piping, and fabric at a reasonable cost.

Meanwhile, Terry used the old legs from the grandkid’s play table that we had updated to a chalkboard table a few months ago and repaired the damaged areas.

I primered with Kilz 1-2-3 and then spray painted the new and improved bench to match their other bedroom furniture

Now came the hard part.  I knew we were going to Tampa that Sunday and I wanted to have the bench finished so we could deliver it.  I think my self-imposed deadline stressed me out and just made everything more difficult.  I’ve made numerous cushions and quite often with piping.  Sometimes it’s easy peasy; sometimes not so much.  This one was a pain in the ***.  And I made a mistake which made my heart sink.  I couldn’t repair it without buying more fabric and piping so I camouflaged it and made that side the one that goes against the wall!

Making piping is simple but boring and monotonous and I usually just want to put my head down and cry before I have enough made.  But I got through all that and then had trouble getting it to wrap around the corners of the cushion.  It’s kind of like sewing blind.  Until you have it finished, you really can’t see if it’s right.  And it was never right!   I was actually planning on creating a tutorial about making piping but after fighting with the bench cushion for a few days, I decided that there has to be a better way.  (Like buying the cushion already made!)

But I finished it by my self-imposed deadline and it was beautiful.  And Kathryn was thrilled.  So it was worth it!

Kathryn and Darin are still renovating the townhouse so I wasn’t able to get a photo of the bench styled yet.  But eventually, it will look like this!

I was really glad when I got that little project finished and delivered!  And this is a little announcement to all family and friends–no more cushions from me–at least until my hair grows back!