Making a Bench Cushion - Tutorial

My goodness it has been a long week! For some reason my son has not been sleeping through the night. Not sure if he is going through a growth spurt again or if he is getting sick, but I (we) need some consistent sleep. He woke up at 1am last night and did not go back to sleep until 7am! Today, I am a coffee drinker. ;)

Alrighty, the bench cushion for the mudroom bench is super easy. If you already have a bench, but your bottom would like something more plush to sit on, this tutorial may help. ;) I did try looking for a pre-made bench cushion, but I could not find one in the desired length or style that I liked, so off to JoAnns, I went. :)

Fabric, batting, foam and plywood.

Found and fell in love with the fabric. Even on sale it was more than I wanted to spend, but I knew it would be the prefect choice for the overall look of the bench and mudroom, that I was going for.

Fabric I found at JoAnns.

The batting I picked up at JoAnns, as well as the two inch thick foam. As far as its thickness, it seems to be working just fine. I thought I would feel the plywood underneath on the completed cushion, but I do not. I did not have to purchase the plywood since it was extra that I had in the garage. Yes, we have lots of miscellaneous pieces of wood.

Bench foam and plywood.

Because the foam was wider than what I needed, I had to cut it. Kitchen scissors do not work well and I do not have an electric meat cutter, so I used a serrated bread knife. That knife cut through the foam like butter. ;)

I then used some spray glue to attached the foam to the plywood.

Spray glue used for bench cushion.

Not sure if there is a better spray glue to use for a project like this, but this is what I had on hand at eleven o'clock at night. Some projects are just better to do when a three year old is not jumping up and down on your foam piece and doing gymnastics. Crazy kid. I also placed some old towels all over the floor to avoid over spray onto the carpet. I sprayed a generous amount of glue onto the plywood and placed the foam carefully on, with a gentle amount of pressure.

Foam glued onto plywood and ready for batting.

Next, I cut my piece of batting and placed the now adhered foam and plywood on top. When cutting the batting, I made sure that I had at least two inches extra to staple into the plywood.

Staples used for bench cushion.

I used 5/16 inch staples and my electric staple gun to attach the batting. I pulled the batting tight, folded over and stapled. 

Bench cushion with batting attached.

I had some trouble with the corners of the batting. When it came time for the fabric, I pretended I was wrapping a present. :)

Bench cushion with fabric attached.

Here is a close up up the corners and how I alternated the placement of the staples ( \ - / ). Not sure if I used too many staples, but I was having fun using my staple gun. ;)

Bench cushion close up of corners and staple placement.

When done, flip over and place in desired location. Add a couple of throw pillows and ta-da! You now have a fancy and comfortable bench seat cushion. :)

See, an easy project to do late at night. It took me about and hour and a half. If any of you have any questions or ideas, sound off.  I would love to hear them. :)

Have a fun weekend! Remember to play! :)

Julie

Linking this post to:

TheDedicatedHouse ,  DIYShowOff , ClassyClutter , DIYByDesign , SomedayCrafts ,  HouseOfHepworths , ChicOnAShoestringDecorating