Upholstery Tutorial

I bought these wonderful restaurant benches at a local thrift store for $30... Not each, but for both. They were exactly what I was looking for. Actually, I was only looking for one bench for my laundry room, so we could take off our shoes and coats, while NOT standing in the doorway.

This is a step-by-step tutorial of how I transformed these benches into beautiful, useful pieces in our home.


I used an electric sander, and had to remove most of the paint on this bench, because it had been painted several times over stain and varnish and was peeling badly. Then, I put drop cloths down, and spray painted (out doors, of course) it. It took two cans of Valspar Interior/Exterior Satin in Tropical Foliage.

Next, my daughter and I headed to JoAnne's Fabrics for the upholstery I would need for this bench and the one for the laundry room.



Because the outdoor fabric was 54" wide, I was able to buy one yard of the fabric needed. It was expensive ($19.99/yd.), but perfect colors for my back porch and the bench.

The first thing I had to do was remove the two strips of wood that were on the back. these help to guide the seat into the base and keep it in place.
Next, I had to remove piping around the edges of the seats since I was not going to do piping. I pried it loose on the bottom with a narrow flathead screwdriver. Then used scissors to just cut the piping strip off without cutting away the seat covering. This will help my material lay smooth on the edges and corners.



Center the bench upside down on the material. I used my kitchen counter for this part. I took the center of one end of material and stapled it to the center of the underside of the bench using a staple gun. I did the same on the other side, then stapled the material in the center of the long sides. So, now I have the center of all four sides of the bench with one staple holding the material in place.



Then working from the center staple, hold the material taut and staple 1 in. apart toward the corners, but stop about 2 inches from the end. Do this on all four sides. I didn't have to worry much about evenness, because of my pattern, but if you are using stripes, make sure to check often to assure you are keeping material straight.



It should look like this.

Pull the material over the corner to make sure it will cover and mark it. Then, I cut off the excess material to keep it from being too bulky. Cut from your mark to the edge in a "v". Pull the material over the corner and staple in place.



My bench seats had a board that ran along one edge, so the bench front curved under. This edge was a little more difficult to tuck and make smooth. I basically did a hospital bed corner and stapled it as smooth as I could get. Because this was my first upholstery project, and I had no idea what I was doing, I went back around and reinforced it by stapling another row of staples. Then, I used a small hammer to hammer down any staples that were sticking up a bit.



I trimmed the excess material close the second row of staples, and put the wooden strips back on in the original holes.



Here is the finished seat on the painted bench. It is bright and looks like Spring. The color of the bench matches a small metal table and chairs that are on my porch. I love it! Both benches were so easy and fun to do. I had enough of the orange material to pad and cover the two stools at my counter.

Re-upholstering booth seats

I got these two great booth seats at a thrift store for $15 each. The paint was peeling off the wood, and the vinyl was pretty old and stained. One seat was going to go go in my laundry room, so when we get home, we can sit and take our shoes and coats off. The other was to go on the back porch.



As I began sanding the bench going into the laundry room, it revealed it had been painted multiple times, which I expected, but the colors were exactly those I had just painted in my laundry. I loved the sanded look with the cream and red showing through. So I decided to leave it, and not paint it.



Here is the bench sanded, but I haven't done the upholstery yet.



This is the finished bench in the laundry room. The opposite wall and the wall with the appliances are a pumpkin orange color. The laundry is located off the kitchen, which is also Italian colors of olive green, orange and red. The next blog will be a tutorial of how I upholstered this bench and the the one that is outside on the porch.