Expedit Bench

David and I took a trip to Dallas this summer. We visited some old friends and had fun at a minor league baseball game, but our main goal for the trip was... IKEA!



We had never been before, and it was a little overwhelming! I think David was most pleased that the big breakfast was cheaper than a single muffin at our hotel.  :)

The store was being redesigned during our visit, so we didn't get the full experience. We will definitely be going back! I really want to get a couple of the Hemnes bookcases.  Anyway... we did come home with a few things.

We picked up the Jokkmokk table, which is now our new homeschool table.


We also got an Expedit shelf, which I planned to turn into a bench after seeing this bit of awesomeness:


Jen's Playroom @ iHeart Organizing

Below is a before picture of our living room.



We used to have a big chair-and-a-half sitting under the triple window at the back of our living room. It wasn't very useful - took up a huge amount of space but only had room for one person, and the placement wasn't great for TV watching or conversation.

The bench is a much more practical use of the space.





I bought indoor/outdoor fabric and a big piece of 2" foam at JoAnn's (with a half-off coupon - that stuff is expensive!), trimmed it to size with an electric carving knife (I bought the cheapest one they had at Walmart), and then worked out how to upholster it.

I researched different methods. I'm a bit commitment-shy when it comes to covering stuff in fabric, so I will go for a temporary option whenever possible. Rather than stapling the cushion to the bench or sewing a slipcover (which I have no idea how to do), I opted to wrap it like a present and used little safety pins to hold it together.



The safety pins are all along the bottom edge on the back side. On the ends, I left the fabric a little long so I could fold it under and put the safety pins on the underside of the cushion. So far, so good!



I'm still working out what to store in the cubbies. The boys use the little stools when we eat pizza at the coffee table every Friday. I love that they fit perfectly. Before, they were always somewhere in the way. I've got some scrapbooks in there, some magazines, some fabric... I've thought about getting a set of matching baskets to fill all the holes, but I like the flexibility. I'm always changing it, and it works for us!

Here's a view of the whole room now (it's a work in progress).  :)