Wisteria-Inspired Tufted Bench

I found the perfect bench for the foot of the bed in our master bedroom from Wisteria.

And it only costs $574.00 + plus tax!  I guess I could pay that.

Heeehehaha hahaha. Hah. Heh. No.

So in true DIY knockoff fashion, I wanted to make one similar. Here’s how I did it:

Start out by drawing half of the demilune shape on a big sheet of white paper.

Trace the template onto the MDF, then flip it over and trace the other side so it will be symmetrical.

Next, plot out a couple points on the paper that will be the tufts.  Repeat the process above: copy the pattern to one side, then flip over the paper and copy it to the other side.

We used our jigsaw to cut the MDF and then we drilled holes on the marks.

I had some leftover bed foam sitting in our attic, so I used it for the cushion.  Just double it up, cut it to match the shape, and use a knife to cut holes that line up with the holes in the board (use your paper template again).

Now for the tufting. The buttons will be just for show as they aren’t meant to hold this much tension.  So hold off on the buttons for now.

I used my upholstery needle, doubled-up my thread twice (quadrupled-up?), and tied one end to a washer.

Starting from the bottom, go through the drilled holes…

through the foam and fabric…

then back through the other way (back down to the bottom).  Pull it tight (I found it useful for Jon to hold it tight on the front) and tie it to the washer.

…and repeat until all of the tufts are done!

Then staple the surrounding fabric to the underside of the bench.

Now that the tufts are done, you can attach the buttons.  Do the same process with the tufts, just add the button at the top.  I bought a button kit:

I bought 4, 16″ table legs from Lowes. To attach the legs, I used 4 of these mounting plates:

71WKciGsBfL._SX522_

And now for the skirt. Ugh…the skirt.  The bane of my existence.  You know the scene in Julie and Julia where Julia ruins her Boeuf Bourguignon, falls on the kitchen floor, and pitches a fit like a two year old?  Yeah I might have had one of those moments. Or two. (ok maybe three).  So I will skip all the gory details and just show you what finally worked. (dramatic much?)

It needs a skirt since you can see the underside without it.  After a short brainstorming session with my dad, we came up with garden edging.

I know it sounds weird. It kinda is.  But stick with me…

It’s the perfect pliability. And it’s cheap.  And we had some laying around. Perfect!

I cut a strip long enough to cover the front. Then, I wrapped it in fabric and nailed it to the front with small tack nails.

Under this scrap piece of fabric is the trim….

so I just flipped it back over and stapled the excess fabric to the underside of the bench.

I painted the legs white (Benjamin Moore’s White Dove in semi-gloss).

To give it the aged look, I wiped some glaze (custom tinted to a muddy brown) on it, let it sit for about a minute, then wiped it off.  It’s hard to tell from the pictures below, but it gives it a great, antique, worn-look.

Budget breakdown:

  • MDF (already had)
  • foam (already had)
  • garden trim (already had)
  • paint and glaze (already had)
  • 1 yd of fabric: $9.99
  • button kit: $9.99
  • 4 table legs: $11.64
  • Total: $31.62

I actually had a gift card to the fabric store that I used for the fabric and buttons, so this bench actually cost me $11.63 + tax. Score!

10 Comments

  1. Great job, Suzie! it turned out so cute. How clever to use the garden edging. I just love how you see something you like and then replicate it with stuff you have on hand (mostly). You are so creative!

  2. Adorable…You are so talented. Your bedroom is so pretty, where did you get the beautiful quilt on your bed? I’m a quilt lover too.

  3. wow, Wow, WOW! That’s what comes to mind 🙂 You can do anything when you put your mind to it and get a great idea! I love it. -KJ

  4. This is one of the most well done tutorials I have ever seen… not to mention the fabulous tufted piece! I love the fabric and the beautiful tufting job you did. Brilliant! Please stop by StoneGable and join TUTORIALS TIPS AND TIDBITS. Your great project will be a welcomed addition! Linky goes live Wednesday at 8:00pm.

  5. Wow! It’s beautiful!! You did an amazing job on it. Thank you for sharing. Would love it if you would share this at my Make it Pretty Monday party at The Dedicated House which goes live at 8am CST on Monday. http://thededicatedhouse.blogspot.com Hope to see you at the bash! Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

  6. This is so cute! I think I would have had my meltdown on the 20th tuft and would have to save the skirt for a new day. great job! I want one!

  7. 今日発表し、別の1つのバージョンの遅いが、拡張型ブロックを非常に有限会社、オメガスーパーコピー1線独特の腕時計、豚の特徴A制作の彫刻は、ウィラード維岡。一種の ロバート件1は一番新しく、添加していない以下のブロックは、可視模型特色Aヨット、A A Aハチドリ、ファルコンと甚だしきに至っては部落マスク。 http://www.brandiwc.com/brand-super-4-copy-0.html

  8. 偽物ブランド激安市場
    ━…━…━…━…━…━…━…━…━…━…━…
    ルイヴィトン、シャネル、グッチ、エルメス、クロエ、プラダ、 ブルガリ、ロレックス、カルテ
    ィエ 、オメガ偽物(コピー商品)のブランドのバッグ、財布、腕時計の販売、通販。
    ━…━…━…━…━…━…━…━…━…━…━…
    ◇各種のベルト(BELT)、最低の価格の2500円
    ◇ブランドのバッグ、最低価格の4500円
    ◇ブランドの腕時計、最低の価格の7000円
    ━…━…━…━…━…━…━…━…━…━…━…
    ◆ スタイルが多い、品質がよい、価格が低い!
    ● SS品質 シリアル付きも有り 付属品完備!
    ◆ 必ずご満足頂ける品質の商品のみ販売しております.
    ● 品質を最大限本物と同等とする為に相応の材質にて製作している為です.
    ◆ 絶対に満足して頂ける品のみ皆様にお届け致します.
    人気の売れ筋商品を多数取り揃えております。
    全て激安特価でご提供.お願いします.

Comments are closed.