DIY Bench Project Complete

I've been wanting a bench for the foot of our bed for some time. We actually need a place to throw a pillow or a pair of jeans when we get home.  Our room is a master from the 1950's which equals a tiny closet and no bathroom.  A couple of years back, we built an Ikea wardrobe to have a place for our clothes.  This causing us to lose about 2 feet of our already tiny room.  Our furniture in the room consists of our low profile Ikea bed, two tiny nightstands, and a hamper.  Hence, the need for a landing ground for clothes...or a bench.

Please check out my inspiration post, where you can see all the great ideas for benches out there. I drew my inspiration from each of these benches.  Including the idea of actually making a bench myself, to using an old coffee table, and to buying the wood at Home Depot. 

I found this table last week at a thrift store for $7.00.  I loved the mid century style legs.

I flipped the table over and took off the brackets/plates that were holding the legs.

They were kind of rusty so I attempted a rust remover and ended up just spray painting them black.

I love the warm tone of mid century pieces, but these legs were in bad shape.

I sanded them down.

Stood them up on the brackets and applied a bit of a darker stain to match my lamps.

One of the main reasons I wanted to make the bench myself, was because of the specifications that I needed. I wanted the bench to be 48 inches long and 12 inches wide or should I say thin.  I bought a 12 by 2 piece of wood and had the guy at Home Depot cut the length to 48 inches.

I wrapped it with the same batting I used for my upholstered headboard.  I used what I had, so 3 layers is what it got.  It could have been thicker, but I didn't want to spend any more money.

I stapled it all the way around, but left the edges unstapled so that we could add the legs as close to the edges as possible.

I ended up having to buy 2 yards of the zebra fabric because of the length of my bench.  I cut it using the design of the pattern as a guide. I folded the fabric in half to get the exact center of the design.

I stapled all the way around except for the edges.  You see the design in the center.

Mr. J helped me with the legs.  He pre-drilled holes into the wood.

Screwed in the brackets as close to the edges as possible. Being that the bench is on the thin side, I wanted the legs to be as supportive as possible.

Attached the legs.

Now, I had to figure out how to get all that batting and fabric around the legs. I cut off some of the inside layers of batting and rounded out the fabric a bit and just stapled as tight as I could.

Here it is.

This project was so simple and has made a huge difference in our room.  Our pillows are no longer on the floor.  I think I may do another pillow with some of the leftover fabric.  What do you think?

Total Cost Breakdown:

Table   $7.00

Wood  $8.00

Fabric $22.00 (But I have a ton left over)

Screws $1.50

Total    $38.50 (all other materials were already on hand)

Linking up to: These Creative Juices, Hope Studios, Blue Cricket Design, Paisley Passions, The Answer is Chocolate, Finding Fabulous, My Repurposed Life, Remodelaholics, Tatertots & Jello, Funky Junk Interiors, Singing Three Little Birds, Boogieboard Cottage, The Saturday Mornings Blog, The Lettered Cottage, Primitive and Proper, Vintage Revivals, Between Naps on the Porch, Thrifty Decor Chick