This is a project that was long overdue.  It turned out so easy that it is really a shame that I took so long to get motivated to get the job done.  What is it?

Reupholstered benches. I’m still blown away by the fact that I was able to do this project but y’all I’m telling you it was so easy. Altogether these benches went from black leather-want-to-be to not-your-grandma’s-floral. I absolutely love the large pattern and tad bit more contemporary pattern for our house.  It’s part of our whole gradual shift to brighten up this place. You know… the little designer’s trick of making small spaces feel larger. Ok, now to the good stuff.  The why did you pick that? What was wrong with the black benches? How did you do it stuff? As I grow older and realize that I myself will never outgrow my messy clumsy habits and that my children are prone to dozens of accidents a day it is clear that I must design around this.  And in this instance even though I chose upholstery instead of a wipeable leather, pleather, or vinyl I chose an indoor/outdoor upholstery. From here on out it’s going to be my only choice of fabric. Indoor/outdoor fabric has come a long way over the years and often times it can be hard to distinguish it between normal upholstery fabric. My goal is for our house to look good but function efficiently (like our kitchen rug). We just can’t be one of those families with furniture you can’t sit on because it might get dirty.  Reupholstering our benches is something that Michael Luke and I talked about for a while… years possibly.  I bought this fabric back in 2013 but I remember thinking about it in 2012 too.  

What took me so long?  I missed my opportunity to purchase a good indoor/outdoor fabric in 2012 so I practiced my patience and waiting all the way until the end of the summer season last year and scored this beautiful fabric at Hancock Fabric for 50% off plus I was able to use a store coupon.  Which means this entire project only cost me around thirty dollars.  So even if we ruin the fabric in a couple years we aren’t out that much money. Anyway, I bought the fabric last year at the end of summer.  I brought it home and then it sat.  And sat.  And sat some more. It’s a good thing it did really because this ended up happening while I was painting the dollhouse for Noah’s birthday. So for another six months or so we went about life with paint splattered, peeling benches.  The benches started peeling a year or two ago… that’s why we originally wanted to recover them. It was bad. People would sit down and then part of the bench would come up with them.  I was constantly sweeping because they were constantly peeling.  I’m not sure what made them do that.  These benches were from World Market and our leather-want-to-be bench from Target hasn’t even started peeling yet and it’s years older than these. Spring came this year and I decided it was time to tackle this project.  I wish there were progress pics to show you but honestly all I got was this!

I’ll walk you through it though.

How to Reupholster Your Bench

1. Measure the length of your bench.  (Including the ends.)
2. Measure the width of your bench.  (Including the sides and allowing room underneath to staple the fabric.)
3. Purchase your fabric.  Before purchasing decide how you will make your cuts to determine your yardage.  (It’s ok to ask for help on this part.)
4. Make your pattern for the ends of the bench.  I used scrap paper to trace the end of the bench and then added an extra inch or so for sewing.
5. Cut the lengths of fabric. Don’t forget to allow room underneath to staple the fabric.
6. On the reverse side pin and sew the end pieces to the length of fabric.
7. Remove pins and drape over bench to make sure it fits like you want.
8. Staple the fabric to the bench pulling tight and even.
9. Flip over and admire your job well done!

I added and extra step before stapling our fabric.  I took the benches outside and gave the legs a quick touch up with oil rubbed bronze spray paint.  Now they match the feet of our table and look a little more classy. It was such an easy project.  One I knocked out for the most part during the Kentucky Derby back in May.  It was easy but look at the wow factor it gave our dining room! What projects have you completed lately that really ended up with a wow factor?  Anyone else shocked that the “summer” is half way over?  Or that the World Cup is about to come to an end in just a few short days?

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