I came across this old beat up coffee table at Thrift Town and decided it was worthy of a second chance. I paid $7.99 for it and gave it a new life as a bench seat, and it was easy. Here’s how.

Before shot, yeah, it’s pretty shabby.

Before we go any further, here’s a shot at the tools needed for this project:

My first step was to spray paint the entire piece, with the exception of the very top that would be upholstered, using black chalkboard paint. I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating; chalkboard paint is great to use because it requires no prep work, it’s fast, and dries quickly.

Once dry, I put a liberal amount of fabric-tac glue onto the top of the piece and attached the foam pad. I cut the pad to fit the piece using scissors. Make sure the scissors are sharp, and that you use your coupons on purchasing the foam pad, those are expensive! I only needed a little over a yard for my project though so it was worth it.

Once the pad was in place, I started upholstering the fabric remnant. The remnant was a piece I had leftover from another project, but most fabric stores have a remnant section with extremely good prices. You don’t need a lot of fabric for this, so make sure you measure and don’t overspend. I simply cut the piece to fit over the pad and left enough fabric where I could fold the edges under to give it a very clean look and used a staple gun to secure the fabric into place, stapling directly into the wood of the table.

To hide the staples, I nailed a nail head trim piece directly on top of them. You can add more trim pieces depending on the look you want. This can get tedious, so I just stuck to covering my staples.

I think it turned out pretty well, and it took me less than an hour to make, including paint drying time! This would be cute as seating under a table, or at the foot of a bed. You could place this under a sofa table as well to create more seating in your living area or as a mini desk. For using at the foot of a bed, I’d suggest using one that is a little slimmer and longer.

Here’s the link to this project’s live debut on Good Day Sacramento’s Thrifty Thursday:

http://gooddaysacramento.cbslocal.com/video/11059523-thrifty-thursday-turn-a-coffee-table-into-a-bench/

Happy thrifting!

Gina Doglione-Nielsen is featured every week on Good Day Sacramento’s Thrifty Thursdays, and owns GNJ Consulting which handles Public, Social, and Media Relations for Thrift Town Stores. Gina lives in Northern California with her amazing husband Josh, and is constantly on the go with three “very active” and “strong personality” bambinos; aka Team Nielsen, and loves every minute of it.