2019 is the year that I planned on updating my family room. This is where we spend about 75% of our time when we are home relaxing. The rest of the time we are outside in our screened room. I don’t know if I will get it finished by the end of the year but I have made some headway. A new recliner for Terry and a comfy couch for me along with a table for the corner. I want to replace the large area rug but that would mean I’d actually have to go to Tampa and do some shopping. Thus far, that hasn’t happened.

I was also looking for more seating for my family room that could be easily moved to another room if necessary. When the family is here there is a lot of game playing and puzzle putting together. The top on this ottoman is removable. (Which we didn’t even know–it was a happy accident when the top came off while we were moving it!)

That’s where all the game playing takes place. Two can sit on the couch but we need small seating pieces to pull up to the ottoman. We will be having lots of company in December and I started planning for the upcoming holidays and extra seating back in July. I finally came up with the idea that a bench and some stools would be perfect and I should make them. Even though I have NO wood working skills and a fear of power tools.

So, of course, I asked Terry if he could make one, he just laughed. And said….

No.

Then I started looking for unfinished benches at a good price and came up with this one from Wayfair.com. The Lynn Wooden Entryway Bench.

I bought it for $105 back in July. When I just looked at it again online this week to write this post it was $68. Scheesch. (I couldn’t figure out a place to put a second one or I would have ordered another it again!)

Anyhow….It arrived promptly and sat in my kitchen for a month. ‘Cause I had places to go and people to see. (Maybe if I had bought it in August the price would have been better!)

I finally took it outside and did all those pre-spray painting steps like sanding and wiping….

It was the end of August when I finally started painting. I live on the “Nature Coast” of Florida. It was hot. It was humid. Pretty miserable. The paint did not want to stick. It took me a week of sanding and wiping and spraying to get the finish I wanted. I might have lost a couple pounds during this effort–what I’m calling “sweat equity”.

But…finally…finished! And back into the kitchen.

Well…..not actually finished. I still needed to make the cushion.

I am not going into how to make a boxed cushion. There are all kinds of great instruction out there on Pinterest and other blogs. I was planning on sending you over to DesignSponge for the directions that I followed when I learned how to make one but she has closed up that blog! The link may or may not work.

Terry and I went to Hobby Lobby and purchased a large piece of 2″ foam. Once upon a time I had an electric carving knife that I used for cutting foam but it’s life expired. I found that I could use a serrated knife. I cut the foam about 1/2″ smaller than the size of the top of the bench.

Then I covered the foam with batting. Why? It covers up the less than perfect cutting job I did plus adds another layer of softness.

Time to cover the cushion!

My furniture is always a neutral color–in this case a gray that goes more towards the blue side rather than brown. This way I can change out my color scheme with very little effort. Over the past couple of years I’ve been drawn to a blue, black, and gray combinations. Like this quilt which I made for Terry and is in our family room:

I was very happy to find a couple yards of this Cotton & Steel fabric left over from the “Sew Many Squares” quilt.

I made piping out of black fabric I cut on the bias.

I put straps with velrco on the bottom of the cushion to attach it the bench. I usually put a zipper in my large cushions but decided to just hand-stitch this one closed. No particular reason other than I didn’t have a long enough zipper on hand!

I did mention that I also wanted to add small stools. Which I hope to add in the weeks to come.

And I think I really need to go shopping for a rug that coordinates!