DIY Midcentury Modern Bench

We are working on downsizing and preparing to sell our house and move in the spring. So why am I making new furniture? Staging! One of our spare bedrooms (in the basement) is currently a junk storage room and we need to stage it as usable space. It's large. Very large. It has a queen bed in it currently that you can't use because it's covered in "storage." We are going to swap our king bed from our master with the queen in this room since they are more size appropriate for the spaces. I have a junky bench currently at the foot of our master bed for the dog to jump up on, but it really is a piece of crap. I've wanted to replace it for ages and especially before we list. It's boxy and has bins in the bottom and visually looks unappealing. I wanted something open that will feel more airy in the room. Plus, I love MCM style and always need more of it..... and plus plus, I want (need!) a project. ;)

Inspiration:
This beauty from West Elm for only $299

And this amazing tutorial I found on Pinterest

My shopping list was short and easy since I already had most of what I needed. 

Here is my Home Depot shopping list:

4 - 12" table legs, 4 - brackets, and a 3" thick piece of foam came to $52 and free shipping.

I also used a 12" x 36" by 3/4" board that was previously used as a shelf in my craft room (I took the shelves down so we can stage it as a kids room)

About a yard of fabric, vinyl, or leather (I have a massive fabric stash)

One button making kit (Like this). Usually around $3 - $4 in craft stores.

String or rope to make piping, if you want to use it (you'll need a sewing machine if you do)

Staples and a staple gun

A drill and around a 1/2" or larger bit (I used a 7/8" spade bit bc it's the first one I came to in the tool box)

A looooooong needle and some strong thread or string

Some craft adhesive (I used spray adhesive)

Quilters batting, about a yard

I would guess a thrifty shopper (with Joann's coupons!) could buy all supplies for around $120 or less. Hopefully you already have the tools.


I started by deciding where I wanted my tufts to be and drilling large holes in the back of my board. The larger the better because you're going to have to blindly poke a long needle through them later on.

Spade bits make a mess. Wear your safety goggles and go outside or in the garage!

Next I cut the foam about 1/2 inch larger on all sides than my board. An electric kitchen knife is by far the best way to cut foam. 

I then used a spray adhesive to affix the foam to the board. This will just make sure it never shifts around when a crazy dog goes running and jumps up on it! 

The next step for me involved the sewing machine. You don't have to know how to sew to do this project. You can just skip this part and wrap fabric with no sewing - but I wanted piping on mine, so I had to sew that first:

And then sew the piping to my cover:

Then come the staples! First I highly recommend you wrap the foam and board in batting and put a few staples in that. The batting helps smooth the edges of the foam and will keep the fabric from rubbing the foam over time. You CAN skip this part, but I wouldn't. It just gives it an overall better shape.

Then wrap the fabric and pull it tight, stapling on the underside. I forgot to take a photo of this step, but you know how it goes!!

Then I lined the bottom of the board with the bottom strip of piping that I made and stapled that to the edges. Again, you can feel free to skip this step if you aren't into sewing or piping. After all that, here is what I had:

If you are doing piping, this is how I start and end mine:

 

And here is a closer look at the side with the piping on the bottom:

Next it's time to tuft. First I had to cover the buttons:

Then I measured out where the buttons go and marked them with pins

Next I used long upholstery needles and a thick quilting thread doubled over to attach the buttons. 

To attach the thread in the back I just stapled it in and then bent it in the opposite direction a few times with more staples. Those suckers aren't going anywhere!

Before I put the staple gun away, I took some broadcloth and cut it about 1" larger on all sides than the bottom of the bench. Then I stapled it on to cover all of the ugliness

.

You can screw on the feet brackets right over the fabric:

Screw on the legs (which I previously stained), flip it over, and voila!!! (Don't mind the messy craft room!)

I can see where my seams were a bit off when I sewed the cover, but that's ok. Once it's in the room with everything else it's going tog look AH-MAZE-INGGG!!!  I'll update this with a much better photo as soon as we get everything organized and staged in the new downstairs master bedroom. =)

I also recovered my upholstered headboard to match!

How to recover an upholstered headboard

I bought a king size upholstered headboard on Cragislist for $50 years ago. It was tan and kind of boring. I've wanted to recover it for ages but couldn't commit to what color - until today!

Here it was - boring tan. Almost the same color as the walls - so it vanished.

And here it is now! A beautiful charcoal gray.

This was a SUPER easy process since this was already an upholstered and tufted headboard. I started by taking the legs off, and then taking the felt-like covering off the back - I just ripped it off. This exposed the wooden back of the headboard.

Then I cut off the old buttons.

Because this is a king sized headboard, my craft room was almost too small to work in! So I spread my fabric out on the kitchen floor and plopped the headboard down on top of it. Pull tight and staple around the edges - it's that easy!!

Now it was time to tuft. I bought button blanks and wrapped them in matching fabric. It took three packs of 4 to get all 10 buttons covered. Each pack was about $2 at Walmart in the craft section.

With tufting I use a super long upholstery needle and thin string or really thick thread.I had the headboard sitting on it's side with the button side facing me. I wanted this really tufted, so once I got the needle and thread through, I pushed the button in as far as I could with my knee and tied the string really tight in the back. I usually use large washers or other buttons on the back side to keep the string from sucking back through the hole. (When I removed the old buttons they had these little metal pieces they used, so I just reused them this time. Washers are cheap and work great - just be sure to get washers bigger then your holes!)

To make sure they were extra secure I tried the string in three knots. Then I bent the string back and forth between some staples to make sure it cannot come undone. Voila! TUFTS!!

I decided not to put fabric over the back to hide the ugly. It's always going to be against a wall, so no one will EVER see it. No sense in worrying about it.

Reattach the legs and it's done. Super quick and easy! Here it is all done in our current master bedroom. I'll post a new "after" photo once we move the master bedroom downstairs into the basement bedroom and get it all set up!

DIY Holiday Roof Decor - The Grinch!

We used to have this old-school bumble (you know, from Rudolph?) that we put on our roof every year. We LOVED him and he was very popular in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, after years and years of use, he was sun-faded and didn't light up anymore. They don't seem to make holiday decorations like that anymore - now they are all either inflatable or really weak tinsel - neither of which really work well on a roof. I decided if I couldn't buy what I wanted, I'd make it!


Materials:
1- 2' x 4' piece of hardwood, sanded plywood (around $8, I think)
Kilz oil-based primer I had leftover from another project
White semi-gloss trim paint I had leftover from another project
Paint brushes and/or rollers (I've got tons of these around in the garage and craft room)
A bunch of colors of acrylic paint ($.99 each at Walmart)
Jigsaw blade for wood (and of course a jigsaw, which we have two of)
Pen, pencil, and sharpie
Piece of medium grit sandpaper

I started by deciding on what I wanted to make - a grinch climbing down the chimney. I found a photo online that I wanted to mimic, and divided it into even squares (in photoshop) so I could more easily transfer it to the wood.

Then I drew the same grid on the wood in PEN (not pencil).

 

Next I transferred the design over to the wood by looking at the image on my tablet and sketching it in PENCIL. The reason for doing the lines in pen and the sketch in pencil is so I could erase the sketch without erasing the grid.  (I erased quite a bit - I'm not good at drawing! If you are, you may not even need the grid - but it helped me a LOT!)

Then I took a black sharpie and outlined the outside where I needed to cut. I messed up there at the arm, so ignore that inner line - I didn't cut that. 

Off to the jigsaw! I bought new blades for it (see below), since the one that was on it was bent and I had no idea how old it was. Remember to wear eye protection and never touch the blade! Not when it's moving (obviously) and not after, either - all that friction makes it HOT! Don't touch it! If you've never used a jigsaw before you should probably watch a few youtube videos and maybe ask someone who has used one to observe and give you tips. It's SUPER easy to use and if I can do it, I am sure you can, too! Just please be safe and don't cut off any fingers!

To get into tight corners you may have to drill some large holes, as seen below. A jig saw can only make gradual curves - not tight ones. To do tight curves you need to drill a hole and go at it from many angles. Also, to get into spaces like under the arm where there is no outer edge you also need to drill a hole to start the jigsaw blade in. Take your time, go slow, and be careful.

Here he is! All cut out!! I quickly sanded around the edges and got off any splinters. Then I took the sharpie and outlined ALL of the lines in black. My hope was that the lines would still show through once it was primed and the base paint was on (which they did!).

 

Next I primed both the front and the back with the Kilz, and once that dry to put two coats of the white paint on it (including all edges).  Plywood has to be painted and sealed to be outside or it will eventually peel apart - so don't skip this step and make sure you get all of it. I could JUST see the lines under the paint, which was perfect! 

I let it dry overnight and in the morning I took the sharpie and drew over the lines AGAIN - so now I had a bright white grinch with black lines. (Sorry he's fuzzy - stupid camera!) 

For the color paints - I bought them all from Walmart. I couldn't find the perfect "grinch green" so I bought one that was close and a darker green and mixed the two until I was happy with the shade. I also mixed paints for the dark side of the chimney and the darker bricks. The rest are straight from the bottle.

 

Here's Mr. Grinch in process. Again, I was hoping I could see the lines through the paint - which I could once it dried! I did the red first, then the green. Think about where you put your hand to paint (are you right or left handed?) before you decide where you start!  I painted the edges the same color as the front - although they would probably look good black, too.

 I went back and put a second coat on the red since it looked spotty, and I ended up doing two coats of yellow in the eyes, too.

As the green dried, look closely and you can see the sharpie lines underneath it. Since I painted the background white, I didn't have to paint the white areas - I just left those blank. I painted around the sharpie where I could but it didn't matter if I got paint on the sharpie because I will go over all of it with paint later anyway. I free-handed the bricks.

Once all of the color was on and dried, I painted in his face features and went over everything with black lines (paint this time, not sharpie) to make it all POP!

I let that dry overnight and the next day I took him outside for the final weatherproofing. The acrylic paint is only water-resistant, so it must have a sealer over it. I chose this clear (see below) because 1. it says it does not yellow and 2. it says it projects from UV rays. Here's hoping that is true, but only time will tell. It has excellent reviews on the Home Depot website, so that is encouraging!  I ended up putting 4 coats on the front and edges of Mr. Grinch.

....and up on the roof he went!  I can't get a good photo of him with my phone at night, but you'll have to believe me when I tell you it looks amazing!