Newest project: Redo ugly bench

Hi friends,
How are you? How have you been? I did a lot of traveling with work in April which was all good and it definitely filled my professional bucket but I am now happy as a clam to be home for the next few weeks! I have a long list (literally!) of spring cleaning (wash baseboards, wash white slipcovers from sofas, and a lot more), spring organizing (put away winter clothes and take piles of things in attic to local Goodwill), and some family fun (the beach in SC and Asheville, NC). I've been wanting to tackle some of these items for the last couple of weeks but needed a good amount of time at home to get started.
 
I just tackled a decorating project this afternoon in about thirty minutes that I wanted to share with you.
 
My husband and I have been wanting a pretty bench for the end of our bed for a long time. I love this style of bench from Ballard Designs but the price tag is entirely not feasible for an item like a bench that is really just for fun:
 

We have looked and looked and looked for a bedroom bench for well over a year in magazines, catalogues, and stores. Nothing that we liked that was affordable and reasonable.
 
We had an old World Market bench from our former dinning room table that our kids used to sit at when eating meals when they were toddlers (love benches for toddlers!) and then we left it outside on our deck for a while with the table and it got ruined on top (super warped!). Here is the old warped bench in our bedroom:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I decided that if we couldn't afford the kind of bench we wanted, I'd just take what we had and improve it as best I could. So off to the local fabric store I headed. I bought 3 yards of beige duck fabric at just $10.99 a yard and some foam.  My husband loaded up his staple gun for me and showed me how to use it and off I went. First I covered the old warpy bench with the foam:

 

 

 

 



Then, I covered it with the burlap colored duck fabric and stapled away. Here's the finished project:

 

 

 

 

 

Since our bedroom is also our cat Millie's domain, she had to check it out too. I wonder if she approves?:

 

I'm definitely not in love with it as much as how awesome the expensive Ballard Designs bench is. But, I think I improved it's appearance. I am considering painting the wood on the legs of the bench to give it a more rustic antique appearance (like the Ballard Designs bench) but I am not sure yet. What do you think?

Here are some other shots of our bedroom (still in progress as always):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It felt really good to have a little time to work on a decorating project today! I will definitely need to carve out a little more time to spice up the Brewer household and share it with you before I head back on the road for work.

Thanks so much for joining me today-
Happy decorating to you-
Megan