Repurposing a Coffee Table into a Bench-Upholstery Tutorial

Today I want to share with you a little re purposing I did this week.  I really wanted a bench in front of my bed so I was asking my mom how hard it would be to make one.  Come to find out not hard at all...especially if you have the base of it already made.   My parents had an old coffee table from who knows where and they gave it to me for my bench. 

Bench Upholstery Tutorial:
Materials and Tools required
staple gun (I used an air one but a regular old hand one would work)
fabric (I would recommend using upholstery fabric or something with a bit more weight and durability than regular old cotton quilting material.  Don't use something that is stretchy or you will be hating life and your bench will look terrible)
coffee table
paint
4 inch thick dense foam (measure your coffee table to see what size you are needing)
lots of staples

How to:
gather all your materials.  If you are like me it took me 2 weeks to get everything I needed cause I waiting for Joann's to have their foam 50% off.  The foam is regularly $49.99/yard and I needed 1 2/3 so that would have been almost $100.  A little much for my budget but at 50% off it is way more manageable. 

Paint your table.  I used my trusty old paint sprayer and it literally took me longer to prep then it did to paint.  I painted mine black.  I didn't paint the part of my table that would be covered by fabric but if you want it's totally up to you.

Cut your foam to the right size.  I think a regular serrated kitchen knife would work but I used an electric knife and it was much easier and quicker.  When you purchase foam from Joann's it comes in 24 inch wide pieces by how long you need.  I needed mine to be 22x60 inches.  So I had to cut off 2 inches of foam.

Now take your fabric.  I needed a piece of fabric that measured 38x76.  Here's the math for 1 side: 22 inches wide + 4 inches for the foam*2 + 4 inches of fabric to staple to the table*2=38.  Same thing for the other size.  If your fabric has a certain pattern make sure that if you have to piece your fabric that you don't disrupt that pattern.  So when purchasing make sure to take into account how wide the repeated pattern is and how much it will take to piece it together.  Also, think about which way the fabric needs to face when on the bench.  You don't want a pattern going the wrong way if you know what I mean.

Now that you have your fabric ready layer the fabric on the ground or your workspace (I used my kitchen floor) with the fabric lying right side down.  Then place your foam on top and finally the top part of the table on top of that (with the top facing the foam)

Now starting in the middle on the long side.  Make sure that you have the fabric even especially if you have a pattern that needs to be centered or extremely straight with the opposite side.  I am using stripes so it was important to keep everything equal. 

Staple that entire side all the while pulling everything tight.  I first staple every 2-3 inches and then at the end when I know that it all is how I want then I go back and add one every inch or so

Now start on the opposite side and do the same.  I find it helpful to pick up the entire thing and peak under it to make sure that everything is lining up right and that I don't have any unwanted bubbles.

Now start on the short ends in the middle and do the same thing.

When you get to the corners cut away as much bulk as you can and fold the corners in very nicely.

I had to cut away some of the fabric on the underside of the corners so that my coffee table legs would fit into their holes.

I ended up cutting out more than what I took a picture of...it just ended up being easier when I put the legs on. 


Then finish stapling anywhere that you think it could use a bit more.

Then finally I used some of that stuff that you see on the bottom of furniture.  Its black and kinda like mesh.  I stapled that over the top to make it look nice and finished.  You could also use regular old quilting material in the color that matches your top or painted table to finish it.

Reassemble your table

Voila!  Your new (and cheap) and totally custom bench is now finished.

 

China Hutch-Craigslist Find

My parents happen to winter in a really great craigslist area.  They have been able to find me all kinds of awesome furniture at great prices to furnish our new house.  All the furniture was a ton of work but it was so worth the time and effort I had to put into it. 

This beauty was really rough when we got it.  It had an awful texture on it.  It was like the previous owners sprayed sand mixed with paint all over it.  It was think.  It was NASTY.  It was not so much fun to remove.  I did use my favorite citrus paint remover (its non toxic) to remove the layers and layers of nastiness.  

I haven't finished the cupboard yet...the doors on the bottom needed new hinges.  The only hinges I could find didn't have the right holes.  So I need to get that fixed and then it will be a 100% new to me awesomely fun china hutch!

Holy Cow....I have been busting out a ton of custom rag quilts and car seat covers this last week.  

 A full size hot pink and black Rocker Style rag quilt...

 Two (well actually 3 but you only see 2 :) Flower applique rag quilts laid out and waiting for approval.  I just LOVE the turquoise quilt...too bad I can't just keep it for myself. lol!

Easy Tulle and Boa Lampshade Makeover

We are all moved in and the decorating has begun.  Well it has barely even started.  First unpacking boxes.  Sadly I still have about 1/3 of the boxes left to finish.  I  just am waiting for my husband to not work a million hours a week so I can have a little help :)

Anyways....I digress!  My daughter insisted on having a lamp for her own.  That and an alarm clock (which I haven't bought her yet...oops)  Of course I have a ton of lamps, but the one I thought that would be perfect the lampshade was not so pretty anymore.  Here's how to do a tulle and boa makeover to a lampshade

 

First I cut tulle the width of the lampshade.  I think I cut the length of the tulle 4 times to go around a semi small lampshade.  Then I stuffed it through my sewing machine.  I sewed it down the middle cause I wanted it to be a bit flared.  You could also do it on the ends and then it would be more fitted around the lampshade 

Then we hot glued the tulle to the lampshade.  We just eyeballed the middle but you could measure if you wanted.  My tulle ended up going around 2 times around the lampshade.  

Then we measured how long we needed from out boa glued it down. 

Isn't it lovely.  The best part is that she loves it!  She shows everyone and tells them how terrible the lampshade was and how great it looks now!  She cracks me up!

Doily! Oh MY!

I saw this posted on Check Me Out Saturday this week.  I didn't add it to my feature cause it isn't really a craft, but it is absolutely ADORABLE!  Seriously I am in love!

Here for the Etsy Shop

Thanks Julie of Stars and Sunshine for sharing

Rag Quilting - Backwards....An Experiment

 You all know how much I love my rag quilting...its quick.  Its easy.  Its forgiving.  So lets experiment for a minute. 

 Instead of all the raw seams on ones side of the quilt...I flip flopped them.  So now the blanket is reversible...Weird....I know.  I receiving these squares in a fabric scrap swap a few months ago and I let my daughter arrange them.  She put a purple square on top of each yellow striped square.  Then When I sewed them I made sure that they flip flopped so that they alternated.  In the above pic you can see how there are raw seams and then hidden seams...I let my 5 yr old clip all the seams (which wasn't the best idea she got lazy and tried cutting off the raw edges instead of clipping them)  But all in all its for her dolls so it don't matter much to me :)

I still haven't washed the blanket (a week later ) but when I do this weekend I will show you all the finished product.  I actually really like it.  I can see some potential...Give me a few weeks to come up with it :)

While I was snapping away with the camera my baby girl wanted a photo shoot.  Silly girl!  She doesn't smile for the camera once so this is just melting my heart!

Airplane Applique Rag Quilt with Embroidered Personalization

A few weeks ago I got a request for a larger airplane appliqued blanket.  She also wanted her sons name Ben embroidered on it.  I love how it turned out and I hope Ben and her mom love it as well!

Bath Robe from Beach Towels

Its pretty bad when my daughter and husband search the entire town for a new bath robe for me.  They thought it was bad that there were countless holes in it and many bleached stains...

Me on the other hand didn't really care....It served its purpose.  It wasn't like any other robe...it actually absorbed water.  It covered me very nicely.  It has been a good friend for many years. 

After I found out that they had searched for 3 hours for a new bath robe for me that was absorbant I realized how bad this lovely purple robe really was.  So I started watching for some towels that I could make a new robe with.  It has taken me 3 months but I did it. 

This project took me less than an hour from start to finish.  It was really simple.  I forgot to take a picture of it before I cut it all up...

First I cut up my purple robe into 5 pieces (the arm, one of the front 1/2 pieces, the back piece, the tie for around the waist, and the little loop that gets sewn in the sides to hold the tie)

Then I laid out my 2 beach towels (I bought 3 but ended up only needing 2 for a size small robe) and laid the pieces from the purple robe on top and cut them out (make sure to cut out 2 arm pieces and 2 front pieces, and 2 loops for the tie to go through)

One other thing to try to remember is to use as much of the finished edges of the towels as possible.  It will make finishing the robe so much easier :)


Then I sewed it all together with my serger.  If you don't have one then use a zig zag stitch with your sewing machine.  First...the shoulder pieces from the front and back pieces.  Next where the arms fit onto the shoulders, then sew under the arms together down through the sides of the robe (make sure to add the little loops in the waist area for the tie to go through)

Next finish your edges and your robe is done.  Seriously this was a really easy project that I was dreading.  I did make my robe about 3 inches longer than my last one.  When I finished the edges I just serged around them and since I won't be wearing it to town no one will know that I didn't professionally finish the edges :)

Side Board Table: bare naked

Remember the Side Board Table?  With that awful texture on it?  Well now the texture is gone.  I have gotten it all cleaned up.  Thanks to

This stuff is Suped De-Duper Amazing!  Seriously.  Its non toxic.  Perfect!  It worked great.  It would have worked even better if I wasn't so impatient.  But I was so dang excited to see what was underneath all that crap.

I did learn one other thing...the citrus stripper residue comes off a lot easier if you don't let it dry out.  I did use a little mineral wash to clean it up a little.

Now I have it all cleaned up and sanded and it is really awesome looking wood!  Seriously so excited to try and stain it.  My next dilemma is whether I should not start the next project until this one is done or should I strip all 10 different things that need stripped first?