Turn Chairs into a Bench

 

I have to say that this project may just be one of my very favorites.  I love the color, the lines and the practicality of this piece.  I love it so much I would love to keep it – but I have NO place for it.  That’s right, you heard it here first.  I have no room here at the castle. ( So it goes up for sale… and it is a sad , sad day!)   Right now I have a ton of chairs just waiting to be painted, repaired and repurposed. What to do with so many chairs?  I could have worse problems! At any rate, I wanted to share the process with you just in case you want a sneak peek of how we turn chairs into a bench.

 

 

I won’t bore you with the building process, other than to say thank goodness for the Hubs!  He took three chairs, two regular and one with arms, removed the middle chairs legs then screwed all three together.  You get that?  Me either.  I basically  let  leave all of the major building to the hubs.  If you really want to know how to build one there are a billion youtube videos to help you with that!

Now it was my turn. I gave the bench a couple of coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Granite, followed by a top coat in clear and dark wax. The dark wax makes the Granite look more black than charcoal. Then I added a few gold accents to the details of the chair backs and legs.

The beauty of this design is that I was able to use the chairs seats.  We just turned the middle seat  around with the long side to the back.   The hubs also cut a board the size of all three seats put together and then screwed the seats to the board.  Yes! Ready to reupholster!

 

 

Before covering the seat with material, I wanted to hide the separation between the seats.  I used batting rolled up and pushed it down into the cracks.  Then wrapped the entire piece in poly-fil to smooth it over and make it look like one long, smooth seat.

 

 

Next wrap the entire seat in double layers of poly-fil and staple.  Time to cover the seat with the fabric of your choice.

 

 

All that is left is to attach the seat to the chair frame with screws.  Did I mention that I love how this one turned out?  Just one or two times?  Love this material… my sister has used it for her bathroom for curtains – so versatile!  It makes me happy every time I look at it!

So what do you think?  Great use of extra chairs? Some day I will have an entry hall big enough to put a bench like this in…imagine me projecting Scarlet O’Hara!

 

Until next time….

         Tammy