The window bench in the home office was getting worn out on top because my large dogs like to lay there often. A hole was starting at a seam on top and batting was peaking through a thread-bare spot. Before the damage got too far along Jake and I spent an afternoon reupholstering the bench.
As I’ve slowly updated the decor in the home office from “moved in in a hurry,” to “you spend 8 hours a day in this room, make it look nice,” I’ve been shifting towards a warm neutral palette of sand and clay colors to go with the rug the contractor put down which is boring beige. The remaining blue objects were the bench and the moon chair that the dog also loves.
The above two photos are the before, showing inside and out of the bench as it came. I was only partially considering reupholstering when I found a new year’s sale on a fabric that’s typically $140 per yard at 89% off. The online listing was a beige color, and nice, but the fabric is even better in person; soft sunset colors on sand. I loved it so much when the original two yards arrived, that I placed an order for the remaining seven yards in stock. 89% off? I’ll find a use.
The reupholstering itself was easy with a husband to do the hardware bits. Jake took the top off its hinges for me and I cut and ironed over an oversized rectangle to stretch and staple on top of the old blue. The stapler we have is hard to work so stretching and stapling was a two-person job.
For the body I made a four-sided sleeve. Carefully surging a little off each seam at a time to get the snuggest fit. Then I surged the edges and ironed them over so we could staple the sleeve to the inside and bottom of the bench.
This is the end result in different light. You can tell that the bench has been refinished but it has more life left in it now than it did with a hole in the top. I’m hoping to get a few months, if not years before the dogs wear a hold in this fabric. At $140 per yard full price, I expect some durability.
