Hi all, thank you so much for your sweet comments about my master bedroom reveal from earlier this week. A couple of you guessed the DIY project in the room. It was the benches at the end of the bed.
My clients and I agreed from the beginning that we wanted to use benches at the end of the bed. They are both functional and pretty at the same time.
This lovely from Ballard Designs was the look we wanted, but $1000 for 2 was not going to work for our budget.
We came across these at Target and a light bulb went off. Although, DIY is not my specialty, I really thought I could pull this off.
With the help of Annie Sloan’s chalk paint in graphite, both the clear and dark wax and my fabulous upholsterer, we were ready to go!
This was the bench after 2 coats of paint. Remember chalk paint requires no primer. I literally just painted directly over the shiny faux cherry finish. While it did look 10 times better, I decided to take sandpaper to the edges to give the benches a bit more rustic, vintage look. Once the sanding was done, I added a coat of clear wax and then a bit of dark wax to accentuate the sanded areas.
This was the result.
Add the reupholstered seats.
Here they are in the room.
And a closeup of the finish. To say we were all pleased was truly an understatement. This was an incredibly easy project that ended up costing just over $200. Remember the Ballard benches were $1000. I’ll take an $800 savings any day.
One last room shot, with the finished benches. What DIY project have you tackled lately?
Tomorrow, I’m headed to Design Blogger’s Conference in Los Angeles. I am so excited about it and I can’t wait to share it all with you. I’ll be instagramming and tweeting, so be sure to follow me @Lmayinteriors on twitter and LoriMayInteriors on instagram! See you next week!
I really must give that a try….for myself! Have so much fun! Jealous.
Fabulous Lori, I would take an $800 savings any day too. May have to pick up a couple of those benches…! Have fun at the Blogger’s conference!
Thanks Cathy!
Hi Lori,
Great DYI! I LOVE these benches! The chalk paint looks amazing……I must be going to the wrong upholsterer though because it’s always so expensive. I have an old chair that I wanted to have redone and it was more $ than buying a new chair!
Holly
I use Glaber’s upholstery near Town Center Mall. They do a great job!
Thanks, Lori!
Great Job! We discovered “Annie” in December! She has changed our lives!!!….Kitchen, two baths and now our dining chairs! Our upholsterer..my husband! We are trying 🙂 first attempt at it!!!
You’ve done some amazing projects Patty. I can’t wait to see the upholstery attempt! It’ll be great!
Thanks..We are working on first chair! Hope to finish it soon and go on to the other three. The first is always the hardest and the “test”!
You may want to rethink calling yourself a DIY-er because those benches look darn good! Have a great time at your conference!
No way! I wanted to ask about the benches but figured they were really high $$ and would be out of my budget. I know what I’m checking out at Target the next time I go! Great job Lori!
Love those! Thanks for sharing.
The benches turned out great! Always nice to save $$.
That’s a genius DIY…might have to steal the idea!!! Have fun in LA!
Hey Lori! Your master bedroom is beautiful and I love how you used the Target benches. Good idea putting them side by side 🙂 Hope you are doing good!
Is the bed a king size? I’ve searching for something to go at the end of my bed but it always seems to be the wrong scale or too expensive. I love how these look. Do you know if the upholsterer used any extra padding underneath the fabric? Love your work. Found you through Pinterest for the burlap monogram. I think I’m going to do this. I originally ordered it for my door but with your idea I could use it for both.