Coffee Table turned Bench tutorial

Do any of you remember Grandwill?  

To re-cap, I inherited a great coffee table that I knew would be an awesome re-do.  It was too small scaled for my family room so I took it outside until I could get to it...then I forgot about it.  Oops.  It sat out back alllll summer until my husband threatned to trash it.  "No! I promise I'll make it into something that will benefit us both!" I said, "And I'll do it today!"

I'm proud to say, I made good on that promise...

Nate [the hubby] has been sitting on a camping chair, yes a made-for-the-woods blue poly camping chair, to put his socks/shoes on each day.  Hmmm, a major eye sore in our bedroom much!  I didn't pay much attention to it as we have yet to decorate the room but the motivation to save my beloved coffee table got my booty in gear {no pun intended} and made me smile that I'd make the hubby's booty more comfy in the process!  Ha ha... I'm so funny, huh.... ;)

How we made it happen:

• I quickly sanded the weathered wood to prep it for painting.
• Nate cut MDF down [leftover from this project] to fit snuggly inside the lip of the coffee table, that was just luck the lip was already there, nice and stable! [This way we could still see the pretty outer lip of the table instead of reupholstering around it.]
• With my 40% off coupon in hand, Kris & I rushed to JoAnn's, picked out fabric and button for tufting then waited for naptime to start our project. [In case anyone is curious, we chose a chenille fabric that mimicked burlap, it's so soft!]

After my 2 kiddo's went down, I quickly painted the table [leftover paint from this project.] My Diet Coke & Pandora on my iPhone were all I needed.  They're such good support ;)

I glazed the table after it was dry.  You all should know by now that I am obsessed with glaze and this color blue! (:

With the first step complete, I had to recover the cushion.  Or in my case/recycle mode, an old piece of foam leftover from the hubby's sniper training [he had to kneel on a pad for days at a time,] he was going to throw it away and it happened to be the perfect length for the table.

Reupholstering the top was a breeze.  

It was nice to have the hubby's help as he used his manly muscles while I stapled:

• Mark your holes for your buttons, I drilled 4 holes total since I had 4 buttons.
• Smooth out your fabric, making sure there are no creases.
• Lay out your MDF on top of your fabric carefully so you don't create wrinkles.
• Spray adhere the under side of your foam pad so it doesn't move around while you're stapling the fabric to the board, just an extra step to secure your pad.
• We started with the sides and worked out way outward to the ends, staple every 4 inches or so.
• For corners, wrap like a present and staple.

Now that the bench seat was padded, [really squishy and comfy!] Kristi's tufting skills kicked in.  We bought 4 leather covered buttons from JoAnn's for $3.50 and were the absolute perfect color to bring out the dark glaze.

Tricks for tufting/threading yard through a needle:

• We used a standard yarn to tuft our buttons for added security, thread wouldn't be strong enough.
• To thread the thick yarn through the small needle eye, wrap the end in Scotch tape.
• Pull it through the needle head with pliers.  Much easier, we promise!
• Using your pre-drilled holes as guides, push your needle through the foam until you see it poking out.
• [Tip: Squish your padding down so there's less space for your needle to have to push through, when the needle pokes out, grab it with pliers.]
• Push it back through the bottom of the board and triple knot.

Done!  
Now my hubby can put his socks on in style ;)

He was excited to be featured on the blog, claiming I never give him proper credit.  I disagree, but Nate, next time do your hair, or at least change out of your workout clothes ;)  Official credit to the man: he cut the MDF, watched the kids while the twin & I ran to JoAnn's then helped pull the fabric tight. Thanks, Nate♥

Total cost: $18 for fabric+buttons, not too shabby! Lots of leftover fabric to make pillows with for my master bedroom ;)

A shot of our newest accessory:

I'm happy he's happy...and that I have a cute bench at the foot of my bed now.  

Next up?

Trying out that awesome beadboard wallpaper in my master bedroom and finishing it up (:

[Linkin up here]