Finally Blissful: Drab 2 Fab: Bed Bench

This is one of my favorite transformations so far. Sadly enough, I don't have before pictures : (

About 4 years ago while driving through Jackson, MS, I spotted an old antique store with a big sign that said "EVERYTHING MUST GO!" I'm a sucker for these sales. I had time to kill so went on it. No wonder they were going out of business.. everything was JUNK! Just as I was about to walk out the door, I spotted an old bench. I asked the gentlemen how much it was and he said "$15, but if you will take it right now, I will give it to you for $8" SOLD. If you could have seen the look on John David's face when I brought this old, raggedly, torn up bench into our apartment!!! "WHAT are you gonna do with that?!?"

I know I took before pictures, but had them stored on my old computer, which crashed a few years ago. So sadly I don't have any. Here's a picture of what the fabric sort of looked like - minus the dirt, tears, and stains-

Photo Source

I originally covered it in a zebra print to match my black, white and red living room. I got over that real quick. While shopping for fabric for Khloe's nursery I found this fabric on sale for $6.00 a yard and knew I had to have it. I hope you are noticing that I NEVER pay full price for fabric!

I did this reupholstering prior to my ELECTRIC STAPLER purchase. I used the old fashioned stapler:

Seriously, if you do crafts often, the electric stapler is the way to go! It does all the work for you! This project took me all day because you have to stop and regain strength after nearly staple shoot. I will NEVER again reuse this stapler for re-upholstering. Actually, I don't think I'll use it again for anything.. but I am some what of a hoarder and can't bring myself to trash it.

I found my electric stapler at a local hardware store, Harbor Freight Tools, on sale for $18.00 (I think they are originally about $40) and then I had a 40% off coupon. I ended up paying about $8.00 for it. You can also use nails in this one. AWESOME.

I think sometimes I go out of my way to FIND projects that involve that tool. John David says it's only a matter of time before I end up in his ER due to a "staple injury."

For this project, I had to basically take everything apart because it was in such bad shape. The filling inside was all but gone. I went to walmart, bought a bag of PolyFil (about $2) and overstuffed the inside. It made ALL the difference and even gave it a new look!

So, here is the final project. I really wish I had before pictures. Almost makes me want to take it apart and redo it just for step-by-step pictures... I said ALMOST.