Glimmer And Grit: $5 Coffee Table = Bench

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

$5 Coffee Table = Bench

For the last few weeks on Pinterest I've seen several coffee tables turned into benches and I really love the idea. So I've been on the hunt for a coffee table to try my hand at it too and this is what I found.

It had a few cracks, but it's solid wood and I liked the shape.

Plus, dust and it all it cost a whopping $5 at my local thrift store... so here I am knee deep in yet another project :)

First I used some wood filler to fill the crack. I let that dry and then sanded the cracks and the rest of the table.

Next it got two coats of my new favorite spray paint.

Then instead of sanding the edges I decided to go for a more paint chipped look and used a paint stripping pad.. (you could also use steel wool) and started rubbing away.

See it is kind of a neat effect. I did all the edges...

and the legs.

Now for the cushion. If you haven't checked before.. foam is expensive and since I only paid $5 dollars for the table I didn't want to spend $30 on the cushion.. that would kind of defeat the idea! So I went looking for alternatives and decided to try using a twin sized foam mattress topper from Walmart. It cost $8 and I just folded it in half to make it twice as thick and cut off the excess. Then using a little spray adhesive I layered on quilt batting and wrapped it around the edges. This adds a little extra cushion and softens the harsh edges of the foam so it looks a little more professional. Then I used some scrap fabric I had (black linen) and some more spray adhesive to stick it to the batting and foam. Next I just carefully gathered and tucked the corners under until it looked right to me. I am no expert so there is probably a better more efficient way, this is just how I did it and it worked O.K. :)

Finally I used a button cover kit that cost all of $1.48 and some scrap pieces of fabric to do three buttons and then hand sewed them through the cushion, pulling tight to make it indented a little. I assumed covering buttons was hard.. wow was I wrong! So easy.. cut a circle of fabric.. put it in the holder.. add the button provided.. tuck in the fabric and push on the back of the button. Presto-Chango you are done :) Pretty nifty huh?!?