DIY Nautical Bench

Since I haven´t been running this week—giving my body some much-needed rest—I have been very busy with various home improvement projects!

Yesterday I transformed a worn out old bench into a nautical bench in 15 minutes! The bench had been in my sister’s room (which is now the boys’ room) and it was sporting some pretty outdated pink fabric.

The finish on the wooden part was fine, and other than tightening a few screws, all it needed was some fresh new fabric. If you have a bench (or other piece of furniture with a removable seat), you can give your old furniture new life by following the instructions below:

Materials needed:

• New fabric for seat cushion—If you’re seat gets a lot of traffic, I suggested a medium to heavy weight fabric. If the bench is mostly decorative, you could probably get away with a lighter weight fabric. I chose my fabric (at my local fabric store) from a selection of left over interior decorator fabrics which are all 70% off! Instead of paying $28/yd, I got it for $9.34! I also chose a fabric that is stain and soil proof, since the bench will be in a boys’ room.
• Staple gun
• Screwdriver

Instructions:

1. Turn the bench upside down and locate the four corner screws that are holding the seat to the frame of the bench (see picture above).
2. Remove all screws and set them aside.
3. Remove tacks or staples that are holding the current fabric onto the seat (there were actually two layers on the bench I recovered).
4. Lay out the new fabric and turn it upside down. Place your cushion on the new fabric face down and cut out the fabric, leaving about 2 inches on all sides.
5. Flip the seat over and make sure the pattern on the fabric is lined up the way you would like.
6. Flip it over again, and you are ready to start stapling the fabric on. Start with one edge and fold the corners in as you would when you are wrapping a present. I used several staples on each corner.
7. Staple along the top every 2 inches or so, making sure the fabric is taut before you staple.
8. Finish other corners and edges, and then you are ready to reattach the seat.
9. Attach the seat using the corner screws you set aside earlier, and voila, you have a brand new bench!