Bit by bit bench
To say that I lost steam on my West Elm knock-off bench project would be the understatement of the year. I managed to get the bench together in a few hours back on Super Bowl Sunday, but since then it’s been sitting in our guest room feeling neglected, awkwardly watching with jealousy as the bathroom across the hall got some love.
Despite having the wood filler, paint and brushes, I cannot seem to bring myself to actually paint this piece. So, I procrastinated by making a cushion!
My friend Suzan recently gave me a boatload of Shabby Chic fabric, including this gorgeous striped pattern, which happens to coordinate perfectly with the striped accent wall. I had some batting left over from a quilt project, so I quickly measured out a piece for the bench. (See the Lowe’s bags beneath the bench…those hold the painting supplies that have been waiting for months!)
Next I wrapped the fabric around the batting, leaving some room on all four sides. I folded in the edges, matched the stripes and pinned everything in place.
After sewing four straight lines, I added some DIY covered buttons that coordinate with the throw pillow covers on the bed (you can see my button-covering tutorial for instructions).
And that, my friends, is where we stand with the bench. I swear it will get painted before our first summer guests arrive in May. Pinky swear. So stay tuned for the final reveal.
Do you have any projects that are in the procrastination stage? Do you feel like you just can’t paint another thing? Share it all!
We have this HUGE dresser we got from Neil’s grandmother that we want to refinish and re-hardware. The problem is power sanders are really hard to use evenly, so we know a lot of the work will have to be done by hand. We got the dresser last fall and it’s been in the basement ready to be stripped since. We really need it, our clothes are overflowing our tiny dressers, but we just can’t find the 8 hours or so we’ll know it will take to strip it.
Cushion looks great!
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The bench is coming along! I really like the fabric. I don’t like painting, however. I brought home my childhood dresser in the fall, sanded it and bought all of the supplies to strip the paint. And then it sat in the garage all winter, until I finally begged the Mr. to strip it two weekends ago. Well, he started late in the day as usual, and the stripping stuff didn’t remove all the paint. So it’s still in the garage, half-naked, waiting to be properly stripped, primed, and painted.
Oh, and I’ve got Junior’s bookcase in the garage too, awaiting a second coat of paint. Perhaps this weekend…
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Ummmm….our kitchen cabinets. We are going onto 1.5 years and three doore still need glass and poly. I have no excuse but I just can’t. seem.to.get.started. Maybe this summer?
Love the cushion!
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Bit by bit is better than not at all! It looks super cute (as does the rest of your blog)! I can’t wait to see the painted finished project. For now you can say you are going for a “raw, natural look”…
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