Poof Bench - Upholstery

As part of the surprise master bedroom make over, the final item to finish the room was the bench.  Since the room is fairly large and it would be at the foot of a king sized bed, I knew that the bench needed to have some presence so that it wouldn't be visually lost.

I love those poof ottomans that have become so popular. So many cute options even at target.  I wanted to create a similar and effect with my bench but knew that if I just used foam to create that thickness it wouldn't be supportive enough and over time wouldn't hold up. So I went to my secret hoarded wood pile stash to see what I had.

First I had a piece of ply wood left over from the headboard.  I was worried that it wasn't the same width as the bed and would look strange so I took the wood and the left over foam (also from the headboard) and judged it against the width of the bed and found they work. Yay!

Also in my pile of wood I found some 2x6 boards. I had just enough. These boards would provide the thickness I needed to create the poof effect. I cut two board the depth of the bench (front to back) and cut two more to fit between to create a frame on the ply wood base.  My boards, since they were the left overs from building weren't perfect but since I would be cover it all with batting and fabric it didn't matter.

 The metal brackets are for the legs which screen in at the end. I found the bracket and leg set at Home Depot for around $3-4 dollars per leg. The legs are a turned unfinished wood and I choose to leave the raw (mostly for time sake, but I like the soft look of the wood too).

They had different lengths that the legs come in. I choose ones that in combination with the foam topper then total height would be between 17-17.5" which is an ideal bench height. Nice for sitting and putting on your shoes in the morning.

As for the fabric, I had so many bold patterns already going on in the room, I need it would be overkill to add another so I knew I needed something with great texture and interest.  I saw a throw blanket while at Target shopping for the chair and I was in love.  The colors were my colors. I love blues and turquoises. It was perfect! The thick weave and soft threads were different and would be complement nicely the other colors in the room.

Once the base was finished, I used a staple gun to tack the bottom edges of the foam into place then covered it in batting (also left over from the head board project) and then I chose to cover it in a dark fabric first to secure the foam and batting in place because the weave of the throw blanket was fairly open I wanted to be sure you could see the batting through the weave.

 I had some brown felt on hand so I used that. I laid it all out in reverse order: felt, batting, foam and then the bench frame on top. I started in the middle on the long side. Pulled up the felt and batting and tacked into place with a staple gun and then did the same on the opposite long side. Then I did the same on the short sides. This ensures that the fabric won't slide or bunch and pulls it tight.

I went back to one of the long sides and worked my way from the center out to the almost the corners. I stopped about 5" short of the corner and repeated the same on the other sides.

To finish off the corners you take the center of the corner and tack it down first, and then find the center between that take and the remaining fabric and continue to tack it down till it is all secured.

Repeat the process with the throw blanket (or if you just have one layer of fabric, you're just about done!)

Lastly locate the hole in the bracket through the layers of fabric that the leg is secure into.  I think if you need to you could pre-drill the holes for the bracket and then put the bracket on last, but its up to you.

I love having a bench especially since my bed is just a little too high to comfortably sit off the edge to put socks and shoes on.  The only problem now is that my kids treat it like a palm-a-horse from the Olympics and I often find my comforter and pillows on my bed all askew, but other than that, its been great.