DIY Upholstered Bench (from a Coffee Table!)

My latest Domino story is on page 52 of the summer issue and HERE online! Thanks for all your kind comments about the spread and for your support. I thought I would show you a little more background on the project today. We ended up shooting the story twice so I made two different versions of the tops. I'll show you the photos that Domino didn't run.

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I found this coffee table at the Meeker Ave Flea Market in Brooklyn. It was stamped Dorothy Draper and I got it for only $10 because it was missing a top. Total score! The color of the stain was not my favorite so we stripped it using varnish remover first and a little bit of stripper.

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This product worked pretty well to loosen up the stain and gel stripper helped to take the rest off.

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The magic maker was using this Wood Bleach next. It does exactly what it sounds like it would do. It comes in a powder that you make a solution with water and use it to sort of clean the wood. The color lightens pretty quickly.

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You'll definitely want to wear gloves for this part of the show. And working in a well-ventilated place is a good idea.

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After the wood dried out, we waxed the finish and I LOVE the new color. It's still a little splotchy and dark in some places, but I like it.

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I had some plywood cut to fit the top of the coffee table exactly at Home Depot and bought some high-density foam at Joann's with a coupon, along with some batting cut a few inches bigger than the plywood.

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For the second try on the IKEA rug-binding, I did a tight whip stitch instead of the X's, which I think is a cleaner look. I used a large darning needle and some neon nylon thread from the hardware store.

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Once the rug (which I had cut into three pieces and stitched in two rows) was finished, I lined everything up and layered the plywood, foam and batting under the rug and pulled everything back as tightly as I could while I stapled.

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I stapled down the batting while I went too.

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When everything was stapled down, I screwed the base to the upholstered top so there would be as small of a gap between the two as possible.

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I love how the bench turned out! It was a cheap project and I love how I can use the bench in pretty much any space in the house. I layered it in front of a credenza for the spread and I've used it in our bedroom too.  We have been keeping it in the studio lately and I love the little pop of color from the thread. It fits perfectly under this DIY console table that I'll share later this week. :)

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A BIG thanks to Michelle Herrick for the pretty photos in this post!