Coffee Table Makeover

I got this very rustic bench for cheap at an auction, thinking it would be OK to park by the door for sitting down to put on shoes.  Turns out it was way too huge for that spot, but kind of a perfect size for a coffee table.  It is however too splintery for a coffee table with little people around the house, and doesn't really go with our home since we don't live in a rustic cabin (dang) or a barn (whew), so for months it's been sitting in my living room with a blanket thrown over it.  Rather pathetic.  Here's the makeover, done entirely during Baby's morning nap while Big Sister was at preschool for a couple of hours. I thought it best to do this project sans kids since there are scissors, staple guns, and perhaps a bit of cussing involved.  But it is nice to have a table now with soft corners for baby to walk around while she's learning to walk and big sister to sit on when she plays 'dog show'.  Anywho, for this project I was on the clock, thus no time to pick up toys for photos, only time to kick them out of the way to make space for the project.  Life isn't perfect.

I can't remember what I bought the table for, but it was no more than $15 for sure.  I want to say $8, but I have no idea.  The foam and batting cost $24 at Walmart.  The fabric was my big splurge at JoAnn's, it turned out to be $48 on sale for 2 3/4 yards, but I actually could have gotten by with less yardage, probably 2 1/4 would have been fine for what I ended up doing with it.  I bought a little extra for covering two square pillows we already have, but didn't have quite enough to do both to make a matching pair.  Instead I covered a small rectangular pillow and still have extra fabric left.  For what, I don't know.  



The Before

 

I covered the top with a layer of this foam and trimmed it to fit with regular scissors.

Just laid it on top, no glue or anything fancy (the splintery wood helped hold it in place)

Then two layers of this batting.  I used most of a full size package.

I wrapped it underneath the table edges and stapled it wherever. I changed the corners after I took this photo so they wrapped around the ends rather than the sides and the table looked overall less lumpy that way.

.....and here's the moment where I had BIG doubts about my fabric choice.  EEK. 

But, once it was on, it looks pretty cool.  It took a bit of care to make the pattern lay in a logical way, but it turns out the scale of the design is kind of perfect for the size of the table.  The sun shines on a dog's arse some days, I guess.

Ta da!

Close-up of the end.



The pillow.  Just enough repeat of the pattern in the room to make the table look like MAYBE it actually belongs.  I think now that two square pillows would have been too much pattern.





The perfectionist in me demanded much farting around to get the pattern to match at the seams.  It turned out to be not as hard as I thought, and I was glad I had the extra fabric.