DIY bench cushions for built-ins
If we’re ever in a position to build our own house, I’ll be totally prepared. I have a Pinterest board loaded with “if-we-build-a-house” ideas and there’s a common theme: built-in everything.
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| Follow this board on Pinterest |
Designing your own house is literally my idea of heaven, since you get to customize every nook and cranny to make it exactly right for your family. You name it, and I’ve found a way to build it in or jazz it up.
My friend recently built a dreamy farmhouse out in Debert and I’m obsessed with it.
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| Remember when I did this bench makeover for her? |
She designed huge window seats for her son and daughter’s bedrooms, flanked by built-in bookcases and sitting on top of more storage space.
She discovered fairly quickly that the trouble with window seats — especially custom-sized, extra-long ones — is that you usually can’t just go into a store and buy a cushion that fits.
I’ve spent the better part of 10 years drifting happily through fabric stores, so it surprised me that not everybody knew ‘The Secret of Oddly-Shaped Cushions’ — buying pieces of plain foam and making them yourself.
Yes, fabric stores sell foam. It’s like buying huge chunks of cheese, actually. They’re white or yellow and usually the price is written right on them, with black marker, since they’re always covered up.
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| Sponge cake or foam? (Mmmm, cake …) |
You can get thin foam, like for a chair pad, or foam that’s as thick as a mattress. It comes in different levels of ‘sponginess,’ as I call it — you get to mash your hands into the top and see if it’s nice and dense. The thicker it is, the more you’ll pay.
So I met my friend at a fabric store recently and introduced her to the foam aisles …
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| Custom bench cushion |
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| Custom bench cushion + throw pillows |
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| Custom bench cushion + throw pillows |
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| How dreamy are these built-ins?! |
Continue reading in my weekly DIY column, My Handmade Home …
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| Pin this project idea to try later! |
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| Pin this project idea to try later! |
Continue reading in my weekly DIY column, My Handmade Home …
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| Pin this project to try later! |
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