Bench Reupholstery Before & After

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This project has been a long time coming. Last summer, our church moved into a building for the first time after meeting in a restaurant for several years. The building was a gift from another church, and it was nothing less than a blessing from the Lord. After we got the building, we did several months of renovations, and there were a lot of old items like books and candles and furniture that were donated and sold. One of those items was a tired old piano bench, and I gave it a home with intentions to recover it for the end of our bed. It’s finally done!

I picked out a simple pinstripe gray fabric as per my mood board.  For local readers, I purchased it at Brentwood Interiors. I started by removing all of the nailheads from around the bench.

Next, I was planning on taking off the existing fabric, but I found the foam underneath was in such crumbly and terrible condition that I decided to leave the existing fabric on and just recover it.

The original fabric was cut off around the bottom and fit exactly to the top. I thought I could do the same thing, but the gray fabric is such a different texture that it started to fray at the bottom.

So I messed up the back corner, unfortunately. So, if you happen to come to my house, don’t look too closely at the back corner of the bench in my bedroom. As I’m sure you’re apt to do otherwise. 🙂

After that, I decided to fold the fabric and staple underneath. I folded every corner identically.

After that, I put the same nailheads back into the fabric with a hammer and a little elbow thumb grease. It isn’t perfect, but I’m pleased with the way it came out and the way it looks in our bedroom.

Sometimes some new fabric and a couple hours work is all you need.