The Telephone/Gossip Bench

I have always had a love for vintage and antique pieces. Probably why people tend to call me a bit of an "Old Soul" So a few months back I came across this piece on Craigslist for how much? FREE! That's right! Absolutely free free freeeeee! I sound like an infomercial. Anyway, you know I had to have it...immediately!

Her mahogany finish was in really great condition but the fabric clearly needed to be changed because of all the shown wear. I initially thought of doing something crazy and fun with this piece but then I figured why not just do flirty and simple. God knows I will probably fall in love with it and end up keeping her anyway!

Rather then running to the fabric store, I wanted to try to stick to my "No Budget, No problem" solution! So instead I simply shopped my linen closets for fabric. Low and behold I ended up finding a random pillowcase that we no longer use since purchasing our new bedding set.

So I simply removed the seems on the pillowcase, unscrewed the backing and seating on the bench and wrapped the fabric around them to see if it would be enough for the seats. Yay it was! Off to work I went....

After breaking out the iron and getting rid of any creases on the fabric, I laid it out on my table and placed the cushions over top of it. I began stapling the edges on the left side and simply worked my way around. I made sure that with each staple, that I pulled the fabric taught to ensure an even finish. I did this with both the cushion on the back of the bench as well as the bottom part. Keep in mind I am far from a professional re-upholsterer, but this got the job done. When complete it looked it like this.

Ok well...Ehhh...I was bored with it. Although I wanted to keep my fabric neutral so I could change out some pillows with different colors/patterns as the seasons changed, I still felt like something was missing. Then a light bulb went off. RUFFLES!!!! (Not the potato chip, although I was kinda hungry at this point)

So thinking that I didn't have any more fabric left, I grabbed my trusty burlap and tried this.

Ummm....welp, now it looks like she is wearing a Tutu. This isn't the Nutcracker...sooo nah. Not the look I was going for. I then realized "oooooh I still have a little left over fabric!" It was already cut in a pretty even line so I just cleaned it up a bit and attached it to the bottom. Again using my trusty industrial stapler. Just be sure to overlap the fabric about a half of an inch each time to create that ruffle look.

So much better!

You may have also noticed that I added a little vintage inspired piece of jewelry to the table so you can easily pull out the extending portion. 

This bench is a really great piece for your entry way. You can write your last minute to-do/shopping list on your way out the door :)

I placed my recent DIY Dome Display Stand here for now (I will be posting that tutorial shortly) Eventually I would LOVE to get my hands on an actual vintage telephone :)

Can I keep her? What do you think? Super easy right? 

Remember I did this with absolutely NO budget. The bench was free, I used pillow cases as fabric, my industrial staple gun that I had on hand already, and shopped my jewelry box for an old piece to use as the pull.

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~Katie~