Have you ever come across an old, cheap coffee table at a flea market or on Craigslist (or on the street for that matter) and thought it had great bones, but realized the last thing you need is another coffee table? And maybe you need a bench? Well, here is the DIY for you. A shallow coffee table could make the perfect bench for an entryway or hallway with a little elbow grease and upholstery skills.
The team over at Style at Home put together this bold bench. After sanding and priming the coffee table, apply two to three coats of latex semi-gloss paint (we are in love with the color used here: Ralph Lauren Paint’s Hot Orange IB67).
While Style at Home took their fabulous ikat fabric to an upholsterer to make the seat for the bench, you could save a lot of money doing it yourself. Just remember that average seat height is 18 inches so be sure to choose foam that brings the table to that height.
For full instructions, visit Style at Home: How to Make Over a Coffee Table.
(Image: Michael Graydon / Style at Home)
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That's a beautiful fabric.
The comments over at Style @ Home on this project are scathing. Wowee. Lil drama over there...
@I Love Upstate --
And we thought the only cranky commenters were on AT...
;-)
Meow. Bowl of milk, table 2.
Wow. I just finished reading the comments over at Style @Home. I never knew people could get so worked up over a coffee table. I think I'll just stay over here at AT.
I actually did something similar with an old coffee table I have...turned it into a bench for my dining table.
Hint: JoAnn Fabrics has super dense seating foam. It's more costly but makes a huge difference when sitting. With regular foam your weight hits the wood beneath and there's major contact. (No worries if you have your own personal padding.)
I'll repost, something happened to my first.
JoAnn Fabric sells super dense foam seat cushion for covering, and they'll cut to size.
Way more comfortable than hitting your bum on the wood beneath. Unless you have your own personal padding.
It's more pricey than the normal foam but worth it.
@I Love Upstate Yeah, the comments were quite nasty. Not everyone does DIY projects the same. Using a quality material and foam can make for quite an amazing bench. Sad that MargotA from Style at Home had a comment saying just that which got completely overlooked.
i'm normally against the whole painting-something-a-crazy-ass-color thing because it just comes off as contrarian and weird but i think on this scale it's pretty cute... and i love that fabric.
A suzani covered bench from a store in LA is way out of my price range, so I see the value in this post. I recently saw 4x6 suzanis at the Pasadena flea market for $100. This would look great at the foot of my bed!
I have a bench which I use as a coffee table. Have an old wooden tray on it so that mugs/glasses don't wobble
Many of the commenters on the original post missed the info after this phrase in the article: "Tackle this project in one of three ways, according to your time, budget and skill level." Such a shame. Also such a shame that people seem hung up on the notion of DIY when this is really not DIY at all but a creative collaboration between a stylist, Kevin Austin, and a master upholsterer, Patrick Kennedy.
OK, now for full disclosure: not only do I work at STYLE AT HOME as senior design editor but also, Kevin Austin, the freelancer who did this project, is my husband. So yes, I am WAAAAYY biased
The price tag of their DIY may be out of people's budgets, but I think what this project does, at least for me, is provide inspiration.
For us creatives, likely many on this website are (creative, or interested in home decor projects) something like this is inspiring. So I think people have to get past the price tag for the bench above, and realize that this project is something you may remember when you see a coffee table that is the right dimensions for an ottoman/bench at a flea market or on the curb.
Way cool transformation! Unfortunately I just gave my old sturdy coffee table away to a thrift store... Fortunately the owner is a friend and she said I could have it back! For us thrifty folk Curbly.com has a tutorial on how to make a coffee table into an upholstered bench that is very similar to this one. It appears to be a fairly inexpensive and easy project. I'm making a bench to put at the end of my bed. (OK, so I borrowed the idea from yet another blog, but what a great idea!!)