Coffee Table Makeover

One day, this past summer, I was driving past a house post yard sale and found my next DIY project.  A leftover coffee table that hadn't sold was placed near the side of the road with a FREE sign on it, and I promptly sent out my favorite "go to" guy (Ronnie) to pick it up.  I'm all about taking something old and making it into something new.  And to find a free piece of furniture to experiment with, I figured I couldn't lose.  I decided that I wanted to transform this piece into a bench.  Here's how I did it. 

First, I removed the doors from the front of the table, but I left the hinges because I wanted to paint them too.  I also removed the knobs on the doors. Then, with sandpaper, I sanded all the surfaces that I would be painting including the doors.
After sanding, I used a bucket of water (and a splash of multipurpose cleaner) to clean the dust off the table.
Next, I painted the table and doors with a high gloss black paint. (*I did not use primer.* I figured whether I used primer or not, I would still need to put two coats of the black paint on, so I skipped the primer.) I used two coats of the black paint and I used a paintbrush to apply because I like the "brushed on" look. And I allowed the paint to dry overnight before applying a second coat.

 Once the table and doors were dry, I reattached the doors and added two new knobs that I purchased at Lowes. 

Next, I used a 3in density foam as the padding for the bench.  (I purchased it from JoAnn Fabrics when it was on sale for 50% off as it can be rather pricey.)  I did not have an electric knife like they had at the store to cut it, so I used a bread knife which worked but it helped to have someone else holding the pieces while I cut. 

Then I measured and cut the fabric (that our facebook fans chose as their favorite!!) leaving extra around the edges to be pulled up underneath the table and stapled in place.

I layed the fabric face down on the floor and centered the padding on it, then placed the table upside down on the padding. 

With Ronnie's help, I pulled and placed the fabric while he stapled it with a staple gun. 

When I got to the corners, I folded it just like you would fold wrapping paper on a present.

*To make sure all corners were alike, I stapled along both long sides of the table and then folded and stapled the corners as opposed to working from one corner and going the whole way around. 

 And that's it! 

Sharing with The DIY Showoff and Jennifer Rizzo