Refurbished Telephone Gossip Bench

Marj MRC Creations
by Marj MRC Creations
$40
Easy
Remember when you saw these almost everywhere, back in the 50's, 60's and 70's? I've often seen these telephone benches revamped, painted over and updated somehow and was very happy when I happened upon this bench for sale - only $20! It was solid, in great condition and perfect for an upcycle project.
I initially wanted to test using chalk paint on fabric with the seat, so I gave that a good try, but it was a LOT of work and I wasn't getting very good results. I finally just removed the seat and recovered it.
I am so happy with the transformation and though I initially vowed to put it up for sale, I am now considering using it in our downstairs small hallway. :)
Here are several photos and explanations of the steps in making this old and tired table looking great! Enjoy. :)
O.k., so it's dated. It is, however, in great condition and doesn't need anything more than a cleaning before painting it. I love the detail in the legs!
Only the top of the table is laminate. The rest of the bench is all wood.
After seeing so many beautiful projects where upholstery was painted, I decided to give it a go. I chose a light grey and painted the first coat of chalk paint, diluted with some water and some fabric medium. It was messy, but while still wet it looked like this was going to work!
Lots of splattering because the chalk paint was very thin, but it wiped away easily enough and I knew I was painting the table after the cushion was done.
Tada! This is the cushion after four, yes FOUR coats of watered down chalk paint! ARGH! It was NOT going to work after all. I did everything others said to do, lightly sanding between coats, but forgetaboutit. I then questioned people and was told that this fabric might not be an ideal candidate for painting. Oh well. LOL I decided to remove the seat and the backrest fabric and recover the seat. The backrest was fine as is, after a bit of cleaning up.
I added a bit of poly-fill to make the hard square corners of the seat rounded a bit.
Nice and smooth.
Hard to see the details, but I stapled the fabric all around and made corners look as best as I could. Not bad!
Time to paint the bench! I chose black chalk paint and after two coats, it looked like this.
Then I "splotched" red paint here and there all over the bench. I wanted some of the red to come through in the final result.
Here is it is all splotchy.
All done! I was planning on putting it up for sale, but it kind of looks pretty good here, right? This is a small hallway right at the front door and a great seat for taking off boots and shoes.
It's too bad we don't have a land line anymore, or I'd set a phone on it!
I painted two coats of black, then sanded a bit to bring out the red. I also put three coats of wax on the bench.
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  • Tova Pearl Tova Pearl on Feb 06, 2017
    beautiful! i love the final result.
  • Heather B Heather B on Nov 21, 2020

    I've been looking for a good DIY Video to redo my gossip table and stumbled across your Video it's perfect because I've got the exact same gossip table it's identical in every way. So you painted yours black just like I'm about to do so it's going to help alot as I start my project. Thank you so much for sharing your project. Blessings

    • Marj MRC Creations Marj MRC Creations on Nov 22, 2020

      You're very welcome, Heather! Best of luck and share your project on here, if you like. 🤗

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