Sad Hard Bench Turns Into Sophisticated Comfy Showpiece
A hard planked boring bench is updated with old-school upholstery techniques.
We found this bench at a Hoarder's Estate Sale. It was so dusty and full of spiderwebs we had to wear gloves to pick it up. It actually emitted a dust cloud when you patted the seat! But we heard it whisper, "make me beautiful". So we did.
The bench had the right bones to use the coil-springs upholstery technique. We started by weaving jute strips attached to the base.
Place the coils and get the button thread going. Coils were attached with button thread using an 8" needle.
The coils are tied in 8 different directions. This gives shapely curves to your seat (who doesn't want that?!).
Edge Roll is stapled around the perimeter. Lay down a sheet of burlap. Add an inch or two of cotton batting and 1" or 2" Foam.
Tuck the foam into the edge roll. Cover with dacron batting and staple down.
Final stage is to add your fabric and staple it to the underside of the base. We folded the side fabric around and then folded the top straight over that. Tack in some nail heads at the corners and cover the underside with dust cloth. Beautiful!
I took to heart the comments on the proportion & fabric choice. I replaced the blue striped fabric with Houndstooth. I also took out an inch or so of padding to correct the proportion. I'm very pleased with the new look. Like it now?
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I am sure I could never achieve the height you have in the finished work. I can just feel the screws or hooks you used for the upper tying of springs, sticking into the flesh when sitting down. You finished bench is beautiful. Where did you buy the fabric???
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Hi Nancy, I found this fabric from an Etsy shop called Sweet Llamas.
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