Tutorial Tuesday: Bench Makeover

If you haven’t visited a thrift store, you don’t know what you’re missing.

The deals.

Oh, the deals.

If you have the time to really look around, you can find amazing items.

Some good enough to take home and place right away.

Others need a little love.

Here is what my sister and I found at a thrift store in Mammoth:

(I can’t believe I haven’t learned my lesson about cleaning up the background before I take a picture!!!)

Okay, so it’s more like a make-up vanity seat, but its new use is a bench in my sister’s house, so that’s what I’m calling it.

Isn’t it beautiful?

Okay, the POTENTIAL is what makes it beautiful at this point.

And, the best part…….$5.

That’s right, $5!!!!

My sister spotted it first at the store, darn it! So, she took claim to it.

Here’s what we did:

Step One:

Remove the seat. There were just screws holding the seat in place.

Note: You can also do this process to almost ANY chair that has a removable seat. Hate your dining room chair cushions? Take them off and follow the steps below to cover them with a fabric you love.

Step 2:

Spray paint the ugly gold railing parts. We used good old reliable Rustoleum spray paint in glossy black.

Step 3:

While we were waiting for the paint to dry, we covered the old ruined velvet orange seat with some fabric. First, we ripped off the tassels hanging off.

Then I yelled asked my sister nicely why the iron was down….see it in the background?

After the iron incident (don’t worry, it wasn’t on….just water leaked out of it on my new cover!!), we took the new fabric and laid it out underneath the seat with the seat turned upside down on.

Using my trusty staple gun, we just stapled the fabric on, making sure to pull it tight around the seat and taking care at the corners to fold it nicely.

Step 4:

After the paint was dry, we screwed it back on to the railing part and…….wait for it…….

TA DA!

A side-by-side comparison for you:

 

This was a fun project to see the transformation!

I tried to convince my sister to let me keep it.

It didn’t work.

Linked to Today’s Creative Blog; These Creative Juices; A Silly Little Sparrow; All Thingz Related; The Pumpkin Patch; Lucky Star Lane; Creative Itch; Delicious Ambiguity; Hope Studios; New Nostalgia; Sugar Bee; Creations By Kara; Sew Much Ado; My Backyard Eden; Someday Crafts; Me and My Bucket; The Shabby Chic Cottage; Somewhat Simple; Fireflies and Jellybeans; Ponytails and Fishscales; It’s Sew Stinkin Cute; House of the Hepworths; Black Kats Design; Life As Lori; Fingerprints on the Fridge; Fun to Craft; The Shabby Nest; Finding Fabulous; Frou Frou Decor; A Little Lovely; I Heart Naptime; Kuzak’s Closet; Under The Table and Dreaming; Skip To My Lou; Keeping It Simple; The Girl Creative; Sumo’s Sweet Stuff; Chic On A Shoestring; Brambleberry Cottage; Cheap Chic Home; Paisley Passions; Craft-O-Maniac; Craftaholics Anonymous; Between Naps On The Porch; Coastal Charm; Tales From Bloggeritaville