Coffee Table to Bench Makeover

April 26, 2015

When I first graduated from college, I was lucky enough to be given a bunch of furniture from family and friends, so I didn't have to completely furnish my new apartment with the zero dollars I had post-college. Our coffee table came from my mom's friend, and while it has always served it's purpose (and I was thankful to have it for free), I've never completely loved it.

It came to me as just a stained wood table, which I then painted black. When Nick and I moved to Pittsburgh we decided to strip the black, paint it white, and switch out the drawer handle. Despite the changes we've made, it still isn't the coffee table I envision in our living room, yet I didn't want to part with it either.

Unlike most coffee tables you can buy nowadays, this coffee table is solid wood and very sturdy. I've always had dreams of one day turning it into a bench once we replaced it with a new coffee table... and that time has finally come! In case you missed it last month, we recently made our own hairpin leg coffee table and we're absolutely loving it. The new coffee table is a much better fit for our style and now I can finally make my coffee table bench dreams come true!

Here's what you need!
- Old coffee table, preferably solid wood
- Fabric of your choice
- Batting
- Foam
- Staple gun
- Scissors

I've had my eye on the Nate Berkus fabrics at Joann's for awhile now (they're currently on sale - snag them while you can!) I love them all, but that top one just stole my heart. Once the bench idea came to fruition, my first step was getting that blue patterned goodness before it was gone.

Here's what you do! (It's easiest if you have two people for this)
- Iron your fabric to remove any wrinkles. Trim down foam to fit the size of your coffee table (if necessary.)

- Lay out fabric on a clean floor area, right side down. On top of fabric, lay your batting. On top of batting, lay your foam.
- Place coffee table upside down on top of the foam. Make sure that the table top is centered on your foam.

- Tightly pull on fabric and batting together, and staple to the underside of the table. Do this around the entire perimeter of the table. (I sat on the inside of the table to push down the foam and I pulled the fabric while Nick stapled.) Fold and staple corners.

- Trim off excess fabric and batting. Add additional staples to any gaps.

Boom - you're done! Easy, right? I still get a little nervous when we upholster something. It's hard to tell how it's going to look until it's completely done (and doing corners is kind of the worst), but I'm so happy with how our bench turned out! It also helps that we chose a fabric with a very forgiving pattern that won't show any imperfections.