Updating a Window Seat - a DIY project~

I have always wanted a window seat.  I even talked my dad into building me a window bench when I was a girl, so that I could have one.  So you can imagine that I was very excited when we first saw this house and discovered that the Princess' bedroom included a built-in window seat! 

WINDOW SEAT BEFORE

Trouble is, the pink plaid fabric that was on the window seat cushion didn't exactly go with the color scheme we had in mind.  But, no worries...recovering the cushion was an easy and inexpensive fix. 

Here's what I did...

Luckily, the homeowners who built the windowseat, made the cushion easily removable...so reupholstering it was a breeze.  I just took the whole cushion downstairs to my dining room work area.  I turned it upside down, and removed the existing fabric. 

I then took the insides of the cushion and placed them upside down on my new fabric. (You might recognize this fabric from the sneaky peek I gave you the other day.)  You can see from this photo that the cushion is made up of some plywood cut to size, topped with a layer of foam.  For further softness, I would suggest covering the foam with a layer of quilt batting, but I decided to simply recovering the existing cushion as is. 

The rest is very easy.  Start with one side of the fabric, pull it around to the back and staple with a staple gun.  Continue down the length of the cushion, stapling every few inches.  Then continue with the opposite side, making sure to pull the fabric taut.

Now comes the only tricky part of the whole project - the corners.  I've found that the best way to tackle corners is to make good old fashioned hospital-style corners.  (And don't be afraid to use a fair amount of staples to make your corners smooth.)   And this paragraph wins the award for most times using the word "corners" in a diy tutorial.

That's it!! A brand new look for a window seat in about 10 minutes!

The Princess' room still has a ways to go...a fun new wall treatment - and new paint to go with that , different accent pillows, window treatments, a new headboard etc.  But at least I can check one thing off my list!

Have a great day~