How to make a child's bench out of a foot board!
A good friend of mine was making some changes in her bedroom. They had a squeaky bed, and decided to attach the headboard to the wall. Therefore she decided she didn't need the foot board, and she called her good friend gail, cause she knew gail would take it off her hands! I did!
It was a petite foot board, but oh so cute!
I actually started on this bench by myself. I should have waited for Cathy, cause I got confused and cut the sides too short. This was a queen foot board that I intended to be 12 inches in the seat. For it to be 12 inches in the seat, I should have measured from inside the post toward the middle 12 inches. I measured from the end of the foot board toward the middle (12 inches). That made the depth of the seat about 10 inches. I simply cut some off of each end, then swung those 2 pieces around to make the sides of the bench. You can see we also cut off some of the height of the posts. They stuck up way too high. We saved the balls to re-attach at the lower height. We used a 2x4 as a brace across the front, and a 1x3 to use as a cleat across the back. (for the seat slats to rest on.
Here you can see a closeup of the place where the side rails would have fit in the posts. There was a large metal piece there. When we removed it, there was this huge gap. We usually use wood putty to fill holes and such, but this was much too big for that.
We used some leftover slats from a shutter, cut to size, and shoved in, they filled the space nicely. Then we were able to putty.
We used some wood flooring for the seat slats. We used some very thin shutter slats as "spacers" to get an equal space on each slat. I cut the tongue and the groove off of every piece. Flooring has tongue and groove on the ends too, so I made sure that both ends were cut blunt. (removing the tongue or the groove)
You can see we re-attached the ball.
I used brush on primer.
From this angle the seat doesn't look too bad. But...
It was looking better to me now.
I dressed it up with a small child's quilt. (leftover from my teaching days)
It matched really well. We took this to Glendale, and it sold pretty quickly. The lady who bought it walked right up and immediately said "I'll take it". She didn't even think about it. Turns out that she is a photographer, and she bought it for taking portraits of children! Isn't that cool!See other fun bench project ideas here.
Gail Wilson is the author and mastermind behind My Repurposed Life. She is obsessed with finding potential in unexpected places and believes that with a little hard work and imagination, any old thing can be made useful again, including herself!
Gail reinvented herself during a midlife crisis and has found purpose again. She hopes you will find new ideas for old things and pick up a few tools along the way.
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Shanarun
This is the cutest, sweetest bench ever! Just perfect!
Kelli
I LOVE that! I never thought to do an alteration like that, but now I'm itching for it...
Stephie Hicks
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Jane
Oh this is soooo darn cute! I love it...thanks for sharing.
Jane @ Finding Fabulous
Tammy@InStitches
I love the way your bench turned out ! The color is perfect.
Marilyn
Love this!!! Now to hit the thrift store for a foot board!!!
Andy Porter
Gail, of course that is so totally cute!! I am always so impressed with your projects.
Katie@Yoga Gal
I would have snatched that up too- my toddler would love it! 😀
Fantastic job!
Miss Mustard Seed
What a clever idea and a cute result! The shade of pink is just perfect.
Maryann @ Domestically-Speaking
That bench is adorable & I love the shade of pink.
Renee
What a cute bench, I love it with the quilt!
Pam
Another one well done.
Pam
Elizabeth
I just found your blog and I fell in LOVE!! Now I have to go find some supplies so I can make stuff! Thanks for posting!!
Gina
I love the pink-what a great little bench, I could imagine lots of cool portraits in this!
sweetpicklesandchocolate
Wow! I love this, what little girl wouldn't enjoy this bench?!
You did an awesome job on it.
Dena
Happy Thanksgiving!
Rebecca D.
Way to go! I am super impressed! I love a revamp and this one is impressive! Thanks for the link up! Be sure to come back every Wednesday and keep the great links comin!
Becca @ Blue Cricket Design
Laurel @ Ducks in a Row
Now that is darling - and the color is to die for!
Randi
I love that ... what a fun addition to a little girl's room! Thanks for sharing.