Wood Bench With Cushion

23 Materials
$200
2 Days
Medium

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Need a modern bench for your bedroom? Learn how to build this easy wooden bench with a DIY bench cushion that is upholstered with faux leather vinyl. Perfect for the foot of your bed or under a window.


Step 1. Cut wood down to size

Start by cutting the wood for the bench down to size using a miter saw to cut the lengths and a table saw (or circular saw) to cut the sheet of particleboard.


We used a combination of 2x4s and 1x4s for the bench base and a sheet of particle board for the bottom of the DIY cushion.


Step 2. Drill pocket holes

For the connections of the 2x4s on the bench base, we opted for pocket hole joinery to avoid having to patch a bunch of screw holes.

Step 3. Assemble bench base

We designed a modern base for the bench with an extra support beam at the bottom that is both functional and stylish.


Assemble the bench pieces together using 2 1/2″ pocket hole screws.

Step 4. Upholster DIY bench cushion for top

Next, we need to get the top of the DIY bench cushion upholstered. We used a foam cushion 2 inches thick, batting, and upholstery vinyl that looks like leather.

  • If needed, cut down the foam cushion to size with a straight board to push it down and a utility knife. The goal is to get the cushion to have about 1/4″ overhang over the particleboard on all sides.
  • Place the batting on top of the cushion and fold over the edges. Cut the batting to size along the bottom edge of the cushion.
  • Attach the batting to the cushion with spray adhesive, while smoothing to avoid wrinkles.
  • Next, lay the vinyl flat, face down, and center the cushion and particle board on top. Starting with the short sides, have one person pull tight and the other person add 1/2″ staples spaced roughly 1 inch apart using a pneumatic staple gun.
  • For the corners, we cut the excess off and then folded in the long side and aligned the crease to the corner and pulled as tight as we could making sure there were no wrinkles on either side.
  • Cut any extra vinyl off on the underside with a utility knife.

Step 5. Attach trim sides.

Measure the upholstered bench cushion to length and width. Then, cut your 1×4 trim pieces to be 1/4″ longer and 1/4″ wider than the cushion base. That way, you’ll have roughly 1/8″ wiggle room for the cushion.

Attach the trim pieces to the bench base using a pneumatic brad nail gun and 1 1/2″ (or bigger) brad nails at the corners (nailing into the 2x4s) and into the other trim piece in each corner. We added the trim pieces to sit 1 inch above the top of the base so that the cushion has a little platform to sit in.


Step 6. Add support pieces.

Measure the distance between the inside edges of the bench trim and cut two pieces of 1×3 wood to the correct length. These will be added to the middle of the bench for some extra support. To attach the support pieces, use the brad nailer and 1 1/2″ brad nails.

Step 7. Fill and sand.

Fill all nail holes, imperfections, and joints with wood filler. Then sand smooth with 150 grit sandpaper and an orbital sander. Wipe clean.


Step 8. Stain

Apply the gel stain and wipe excess off within 3 minutes.


Step 9. Seal

We applied 4-5 coats of a spray lacquer finish.


Step 10. Attach DIY bench cushion

The last step is to set the DIY bench cushion into place and secure it with pocket hole screws in the corners.

This bench turned out better than I even imagined it and it’s just perfect here under the window, don’t you think?

Suggested materials:
  • Tape measure
  • Wood (2x4s & 1x4s)
  • Sheet of particle board
See all materials
Chelsea @ Making Manzanita
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