Adding an Upholstered Top to a Hard Bench

Well you guys....

Let's continue with my niece Miriam's new bench.

When we last left off.....

I had stripped off the padding and painted it and got it ready for it's new cushy top.

Soooooooo.......

what follows is a tutorial on how to add an upholstered top to something that's 

not supposed to have one!!!!!!

Or, I guess you could just say, 

that it wasn't originally designed to have one.

Sooooooooo.......

this is what I done did.

First I cut 2" medium density foam to the size of the top.

The full size, including the shaped edge.

To cut foam, I use my special supper duper foam cutter.....

 It's an electric knife made by Hamilton Beach that was the cheapest  best priced one at Bed Bath and Beyond.

I then used spray adhesive to attach the foam to the bench top.

Then I cut a piece of Dacron to the same size as the foam....

Adding this extra piece of padding helps create a nice rounded crown on the seat.

I used more spray adhesive to adhere it to the foam.

Then I applied a Dacron cover......

And started stapling it to the sides of the top.

I use a small compressor and a staple gun.

If you plan on doing more than one piece of upholstery,

it's really important to get a compressor.

They are only around 100 bucks, and well worth the expense.

I love my compressor!!!!!

It's my buddy!!!!!

First set a staple in the middle of each side.....

 I stapled it to the very edge.....

 Then working from the center out, staple along the edge of the top, smoothing and gently putting the Dacron into place.

Then, trim off the excess.

Since I was going to be making a slipcover, 

I just covered the bench in a plain lining fabric.

I keep a bolt of it in my closet.

My closet has lots of goodies.

(but no dead bodies.......)

 At this point, I thought I could cover the top while it was still attached to the bench.

That's because I am an idiot.....

So, once I realized that that wasn't going to work so great........

I took the top off the hinges, and whadayaknow!!!!!

It worked much gooder!!!!!

 I stapled the fabric to the underside of the top.

Starting in the middle of each side, I set a staple.

Then working from the middle out, I smoothed and pulled the fabric to the outside corners, stapling 

as I went.....

 When I came to the corners, I tucked the fabric under, like a package.

 Then I trimmed off the excess, and cut away from where the hinges would screw back in.

Then I covered the bottom in cambric.

I keep a roll of it in my closet, along with my other goodies.....

 Then I trimmed the cambric and reattached the top to the bottom.

Now it looks like a real upholstered bench!!!!!

And when it's open, it doesn't look tooooo bad, but then I don't plan on opening it, 'cuz it's Miriam's.....

So, here's the shot of it before and the picture of it up to this point.

Next post I'll show you how to do the slipcover.

So that's it for tonight.....

Later, Gator

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