A Pretty Little Bench

A bench is such a useful piece of furniture. It is small enough that it can fit in so many spaces. I recently bought a bench at an auction that I knew I was going to update, never a doubt in my mind. I brought it home and sat it in the garage until I could get around to fixing it up. Of course my husband saw it there and commented that he'd like to use the bench at the foot of our bed. I thought.... oooh, that bench is so ugly. Besides, unknown to my husband, I had another bench stashed away that I dearly loved. It's next on my list for a "redo".

I didn't get a before of this bench but I did take a picture of the ugly cushion that was originally on the bench. It was just plain wood prior to the redo. Here's the original cushion:

I had to strip the orange velvet off the bench, which included removing all those buttons. Then I stuffed the holes left behind from the buttons with some polyfil. After that, I wrapped the foam in muslin, then added a layer of 1 inch foam and then wrapped that in muslin and then batting before recovering with the decorator fabric. I just LOVE this fabric. I had a hard time finding it online after I saw it on a blog and then at an upscale decorator shop, at a price I didn't want to pay. Once I located the fabric at an online source I ordered some; this bench is my second upholstery project with this lovely yellow and gray fabric.

I also painted the frame of the bench with Annie Sloan Old Ochre, and used Miss Mustard Seed's clear wax, followed by her Antiquing wax as a finish after some distressing. I just LOVE the MMS waxes; especially the antiquing wax. Now, I think the bench is quite attractive.

Here's a picture of the finished bench.

I added the bench to my booth at Le Fou Flea in Kansas City and it sold right away. I'd call that a success!

Thanks for stopping by!