How To: "Ugly" Coffee Table into an Upholstered Bench

Before...

You may remember Shelly's work from the January Jumpstart Project - her Amy Butler fabric covered nightstand was a hit. She kindly sent us the info on a new project - another re-do utilizing a used piece of furniture and fabric...

...and After!

She says, "What do you do with an old coffee table with a dinged up or stained top? Turn it into a soft, lovely, upholstered bench for your hallway, end of your bed or as an upholstered ottoman in front of the sofa. This pine bench was $13.99 at Goodwill (a little overpriced in my opinion). With some fresh new fabric, supplies and these simple instructions, it morphed into a different creature. "

The Cliff's Notes version:

Paint

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Cut Foam

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Make holes to accommodate buttons

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Staple on Dacron

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Cover with Upholstery Fabric

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Finish with Covered Buttons

For the full lesson: Shelly gives the full list of supplies needed and very thorough step by step instructions on how to complete the DIY on both her blog, Flipt Studio and Curbly. Check them out for all the details.

Thanks for sending us ANOTHER great project tutorial, Shelly!

Shelly's January Jumpstart Project: The Upholstered Nightstand Project

Comments (9)

I was hours away from taking my ugly coffee table to the goodwill before I read this post! Thanks for this great idea, I've been wishing for a nice bench at the end of my bed and this will work out fantasticly!

posted by wendy-rae on March 10th 2008 at 8:23am
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Cute results! But I kinda liked the old table too...

posted by spaceagemouse on March 10th 2008 at 8:33am
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looks great!
Love the fabric, shelly how did you make the button holes?

posted by DahliaCactus on March 10th 2008 at 9:02am
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Good idea! I looked at the complete instructions, but I still don't quite understand - do you staple the dacron and fabric to the bench itself? If so, do you need a special kind of stapler? Thank you.

posted by Pteetsa on March 10th 2008 at 9:31am
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Pteetsa - you'd just need a staple gun.

posted by Laura on March 10th 2008 at 10:30am
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You can get an electric staple gun (Black and Decker) that works better than manual. I use a pneumatic upholstery gun hooked up to an air compressor but the electric does the job. The dacron is rolled under and stapled down, then you do the same thing with the fabric. It's like maiking a bed with a flat sheet, sort of.

Circles were just cut out of the foam where I wanted buttons to be, that leaves an indentation. There will be a nice little nest waiting for the buttons after covering the foam with dacron and the fabric. In the first picture above, you can see the drilled holes for the button twine to thread through.
Hope that helps.

posted by ModHomeEcTeacher on March 10th 2008 at 10:44am
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Correction: The electric staple gun is a Sears Craftsman
shelly

posted by ModHomeEcTeacher on March 10th 2008 at 11:21am
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Awesome! Where did you get a hold of that fabric, the pattern is great!

posted by girlonthem00n on March 10th 2008 at 3:34pm
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Fabric came from Calico Corners but I recently saw it at Hancock Fabrics. I love it too.

posted by ModHomeEcTeacher on March 10th 2008 at 6:32pm
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