When we purchased our current cottage, there was alot of furniture left behind by the previous owner.  Some in better shape than others…
Well, this coffee table was rather dated and bland and since I already had a coffee table I decided to turn it into a bench.

I was a very bad blogger and forgot to take a picture before I started painting it, so here’s a picture of it’s matching end table so you can get an idea of what I started with.

I gave the entire surface a light sanding and set up my fancy drop cloth (plastic garbage bags) outside and began spray painting.  I used interior satin finish heritage white spray paint.

The bottom part of the table is wood but the top is some sort of particle board that has a high shine.

This is the exterior fabric that I purchased from Tonic Living to cover it.  I wanted it to be very durable and easy to clean so I used exterior fabric.

I was lucky enough to have some leftover chipboard from my headboard project in the spring, which was perfect for the bench.  I cut it to exactly the same size as the top of the coffee table, or I should say my hubby cut it to the same size.
I then used spray adhesive to attach the 3″ thick upholstery foam (also cut to the size of the top of the coffee table) and then covered the entire piece with quilt batting and stapled it into place.

Now, I was ready to do the fun part.  I placed the fabric face down with the foam covered board on top.  After making sure that the pattern was straight, I started stapling it in place.
This would have gone very quickly….if my electric stapler didn’t act up and then my backup manual stapler didn’t do the same darn thing.  So it was staple once, adjust stapler, then staple again, adjust stapler..you get the drift…..
BTW – When you are upholstering, make sure that you staple once in the middle of each of the four sides and then continue stapling around the piece, going from one side to the other and end to end, so that the fabric stays straight and taunt.

Here it is, an hour later, all ready to be attached to the top of the coffee table.

It was then that I realized that the edges of the coffee table showed under the upholstered part and that I would need to paint the top edges all around, white….sigh……

Okay, NOW we are ready to attach the upholstered part to the table.  My hubby used screws that he made sure were the right thickness so that they didn’t poke through the foam…that definitely wouldn’t be very comfortable to sit on, ha ha!

And here it is, but then I decided I wanted to add some nail strips to finish it off.  Off to Lee Valley Tools I went to purchase some.

I cheated and used the nail strips so that you only have to hammer a nail in every four heads, much easier to keep the strip straight.

AND HERE IT IS……

Isn’t it cute, I think it is going to be the perfect little glam touch in our new cottage entrance.

Now, I’m thinking the matching end tables would make a very cute ottoman…..hmmm….(yes, that’s Pixie on top, my cats love a camera!)

And a very special Thank You to my friend, Kelly of the Jax Does Design blog for featuring me on her Fab Furniture Friday! Click here to visit Kelly’s wonderful blog.