DIY Upholstered Bench

Our Thrifty Ideas | #DIY Uphostered Bench out of a shelf unit from IKEA


Last week I showed you a couple sneak peeks of a fun adventure I got to go on; teaching a quick seminar at IKEA in Draper Utah. I shared a fun project that we have been wanting for our master bedroom, and today, I am revealing that project as part of the start of our Master Bedroom Makeover.
Let me start by sharing that we live in a small tiny 2 bedroom duplex right now, and with 4 of us and all our toys, craft supplies, and must haves there are very few nooks and crannies that do not have something shoved or stuffed into it. Recently we put our master bed up on risers so that I could store more of our stuff under the bed, to clean up a few of the corners in our room and make it more of a retreat and relaxing feeling rather than a stressful place in our house.

When we put the bed on risers, the kiddos got sad because they now couldn’t climb up on our bed, by themselves, in the mornings to snuggle. It was hard for them, so we thought we could make a storage bench that would also help the kids as a step to climbing on the bed themselves.

Not only is this bed useful for our room, but you could use it in an entryway, living room, or even a bench at the kitchen table. Place storage in there, and also have it movable to wherever you need it at the time! You could move it from the entryway into the living room for extra seating when you  have company!

Ok, enough about the ideas of the bench, lets get to how to put it together!

I started with the Besta Shelf Unit from IKEA (mine is the black, but you can get it in white or burch), Besta caster 2pk, the Annbeth fabric (but you could use any, they have so many incredible fabrics to choose from at IKEA.), 1 inch poly foam, spray adhesive, and a staple gun.

Our Thrifty Ideas | #DIY Uphostered Bench out of a shelf unit from IKEA
To start, you will put together the base for the Besta unit. Do not put the top on yet. You can put the casters on the bottom now, or wait until it is all done.
Our Thrifty Ideas | #DIY Uphostered Bench out of a shelf unit from IKEA
Then you are going to measure our your fabric to be 4 inches larger, on each side, than the top of your bench.
Our Thrifty Ideas | #DIY Uphostered Bench out of a shelf unit from IKEA
Iron our your fabric to get our all creases and wrinkles.

Our Thrifty Ideas | #DIY Uphostered Bench out of a shelf unit from IKEA
Now you will cut your foam. To do this, you can lay it out on the top of the bench then draw around with a pen and cut it out. Then take the foam either outside or to a drop cloth, and spray one side down with spray adhesive (you could do the wood, but the foam is easier to carry!). Once the adhesive is tacky, put it back in place on top of the wood.

The reason for this is so that when you are tugging and pulling on the fabric to staple it, the foam will stay in place.

Now, place the fabric on the ground, right side down, and flip the wood/foam upside down on top of it.

Our Thrifty Ideas | #DIY Uphostered Bench out of a shelf unit from IKEA
Now to staple:
Fold the fabric about 1 inch in. This will hide the raw edge and any fraying. Then fold it up to the bottom of the wood. Starting at one corner, staple in place. You will then pull the fabric tight (but keeping it straight) and continue all the way down the long side of the bench.
Continue this same technique on the other long side of the bench, starting at one corner and moving to the other. Make sure to pull the fabric under the foam to be as taut as possible.

Our Thrifty Ideas | #DIY Uphostered Bench out of a shelf unit from IKEA
When you get to the ends, you will want to do a hotel sheet fold to make it look clean. To do that, fold the corner in toward the middle

Our Thrifty Ideas | #DIY Uphostered Bench out of a shelf unit from IKEA
Then fold the bottom up toward the top. Then fold the rough edge under and staple in place starting in one corner, and pulling taut as you did on the previous edges while working to the other corner.

Our Thrifty Ideas | #DIY Uphostered Bench out of a shelf unit from IKEA
Once you have the top upholstered, you are ready to put it in place on top of the shelf (wish your handy little helpers, of course!) and put it to use!!

Our Thrifty Ideas | #DIY Uphostered Bench out of a shelf unit from IKEA

Do you love it? Because we most definitely do, and the kids are in heaven being able to climb up to snuggle in the mornings….and to use it as a jumping bench!

Stay tuned for the rest of my Master Bedroom Makeover reveal! I’m so excited for it. Oh, and trust me, I’m not keeping the brown bedding with my black bench. I just couldn’t reveal the other fun stuff yet!

Make Sure to Follow Along

        

If you use one of my tutorials, I’d love to see. Send me a link or picture to Vanessa {at} OurThriftyIdeas.com

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Comments

  1. I love this idea. Once we are in a bigger place I would love to make one of these at the foot of our bed for more storage and to sit to put shoes on and stuff. Great job cute girl.

  2. What a great idea! It’s perfect for shoes. And your littles are so cute.:)

  3. I love this – so fun and cute. I pinned it! 😉

  4. how cute is that fabric you used! great idea & tips – thanks.

  5. So pretty!! My mom and I are planning on reupholstering her cedar chest soon. I think your tutorial is going to be super helpful!!

  6. Love this idea! Pinned!

    -Erin @ DIY on the Cheap

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