Here’s how to make an amazingly soft and comfy tufted bench. Why make one -- why not just go out and buy one instead? Because you’ll find that the cost of making one yourself is far less than the cost of purchasing one. Plus of course, you have the satisfaction of building it yourself!
Now, this does take a bit of work, so please be prepared for that. But it’s not too difficult and as you’ll discover, the end result makes it well worth it.
Supplies Needed
Cordless power drillStaple gun
Thick board cut to the size you want for the bench. You can decide how much length and width you want for your bench and have the board cut accordingly.
Thick foam, also cut to the size of the board.
Padding for covering up the hard corners of the board
A pegboard with regular holes in it. With this, you can avoid measuring while drilling holes, which makes it much easier (you won’t use the pegboard on the bench itself, of course.)
Table legs. You could buy hairpin legs.
Pre-covered buttons
Fabric (say, velvet) of your choice.
Spray adhesive
Glue gun
Extra strong upholstery thread.
Plain plastic buttons
Step by Step Instructions
Place the board on a table and place the pegboard on the board. Line up a corner and two of the edges of the pegboard with a corner and edges of the board.You need to decide on the pattern you want to have for the tufts on the bench. You could for instance, use a diamond pattern with six holes along the center and five on either side. The five holes will be along the middle of the six, on either side of the six center holes.
Find the center of your bench by measuring it. The idea is to have the center line of the diamond pattern line up with the center of the bench.
On the pegboard, place a mark around the hole that is at the center of the board.
Count out how many holes you want to go on either side of the center towards the sides of the board (this depends on the size of your board). Those outer holes are to be part of the outer edge of your diamond pattern.
Similarly, count out how many holes you want to move on either side of the center, along the length of the board. Continue the pattern along the board. Draw out the diamond pattern on the pegboard, so that you clearly know where the end-points are.
Those end-points are where you will place the buttons on the cushion.
Next, use a marker pen to mark the end-points of the diamond shape on the board itself, through the holes in the pegboard. This is so that you know precisely where you need to drill on the board. After this is done, remove the pegboard.
Use the power drill and appropriate drill bit to create holes right through the board at each point you marked.
Take the foam and lay it flat on a table. Place the pegboard on the foam and use the marker to mark holes along end-points of the same diamond pattern you created on the main board.
Use a knife to create holes right through the foam.
Place the board onto two crates or two stands of some sort with space in between. This is so that you can access the area underneath the board.
Spray adhesive on the board. Place two upholstery needles (long needles) at the two outer holes through the foam, to help line up the holes on the foam with the holes on the board.
Remove the needles, once that is done.
Spray adhesive onto the foam. Center the padding over the foam and stick the foam and padding together.
Lay the fabric over the padding.
Thread the upholstery needle. Reach beneath the board and insert the needle through the center hole of the diamond. Thread one of the pre-covered buttons with the needle and then insert the needle back through the center hole. Pull it tight.
Reach down to the bottom of the board. Thread the needle through the plain plastic button and tie to knot to snugly secure the button. If necessary, ask someone to push down the top button into the foam so that it forms a proper tuft.
Repeat the above process for all the holes you made in the board.
One thing to note is how the pleats are forming in the fabric. Each button on the fabric when pulled down will result in the fabric getting pleated. Adjust the pleats so that it looks pretty.
Turn over the seat. Trim off the excess fabric as well as the excess padding.
Before you trim them, mark out the positions where the legs of the bench will be fixed. Now you can trim out the padding more accurately.
Use a staple gun to staple the padding onto the bottom of the board. At the corners, make sure you fold up the padding appropriately so that it looks doesn’t look awkward when locked into place.
Now, move onto the fabric. Place the fabric so that the buttons and the wood itself is not visible underneath the bench.
Position the fabric in place and place a couple of anchoring staples into the fabric at the center of the length of the bench, to ensure that you do not pull the fabric too much in one direction or the other.
Use hot glue gun to fix the fabric onto the wood. You can also use staples where needed.
The next step is to fix the legs of the bench.
Since you marked off those positions earlier, you have left out padding from the areas where the legs will be fixed. Drill holes in the wood where the legs need to be fixed and tighten the legs into place.
Turn the bench the right way up and place it on the floor.
Your tufted bench is done! Place it at a prominent location in your living room or elsewhere and enjoy it’s awesome looks and comfort!