Upholstered X Bench

It’s the ladies turn on this upholstered X bench! Besides my Chicken wire Bulletin Board I have ZERO experience building. Yes, I watch my husband build, however, by no means does that make me anymore experienced than the average Joe, or shall I say Jane. So following some pretty awesome girls, hint hint Shanty2Chic, motto “Build like a Girl” I decided to give it a go. I picked out my design, had this AMAZING aerospace engineer I know draw up the plans and voilà! This upholstered X bench was built entirely by me with NO experience and NO help from my builder of a husband… though he did sit back and laugh at me a few times. Oh and by the way, this thing is built to last, its crazy sturdy and will take a ton of weight and abuse (which it has too in order to last around our house). Well, anyway, here’s a pictorial of my very first SOLO furniture build! Go me!

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Rogue Engineer

Upholstered X Bench | Free DIY Plans
DIY Upholstered X Bench | Free Plans

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Tools Required



Materials



Cut List


3/4″ plywood for base of seat should be cut to 17″ x 22″. I used scrap plywood I had laying around. This doesn’t have to be any particular kind of plywood.

DIY Upholstered X Bench Plans - Cut List


Dimensions


DIY Upholstered X Bench Plans | Dimensions


Upholstered X Bench Plans


DIY Upholstered X Bench Plans - Step 1

Step 1: Side Legs

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 1

I owned this saw!

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 1

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 1

Me using the nailer!


DIY Upholstered X Bench Plans | Step 2

Step 2: Assemble Sides

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 2

Nailed it!

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 2

Times 2!


DIY Upholstered X Bench Plans | Step 3

Step 3: Assemble Top Frame

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 3

Screwing the top frame together

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 3

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 3

Picture perfect!


DIY Upholstered X Bench Plans - Step 4

Step 4: Assemble Base Frame

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 4

Top framed screwed on.


DIY Upholstered X Bench Plans | Step 5

Step 5: Add Middle Support

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 5

Middle support in place


DIY Upholstered X Bench Plans - Step 6

Step 6: Add Cap to Mid Support

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 6

Cap nailed in place


Step 7: Adhere Foam to Plywood

With your plywood cut to 17″ x 22″ spray one side with spray adhesive. Then set the board on the foam and cut the foam to size with a utility knife.

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 7

Spray your plywood with spray adhesive

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 7

Set board on foam…

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 7

… and cut off remaining foam with a utility knife

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 7


Step 8: Wrap with Batting

Lay your batting out and once you’ve determined how much you’ll ned to wrap the seat with, cut it to size. Then, staple the batting to the back of the board, as shown, and trim the excess.

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 8

Lay out your batting

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 8

Cut to size. Leave a little extra. (You can trim later)

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 8

Fold over the corners like so.

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 8

Pull tight and staple in place


Step 9: Wrap with Fabric

Now, do the same but with your fabric. Be sure to align the pattern (if you have one) as you would like to see it on the top. Also, we found that the corners looked best if we bunched them up as tight as possible and stapled them in place. But you can play around with the corners and see what you like best. To be honest, this was our first upholstered project so we’re no experts at all.

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 9

Lay out your fabric. Make sure you pattern on the top side is how you like it!

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 9

Staple your sides

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 9

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 9

Then pull the corners into a tight bunch and staple in place

Then pull the corners into a tight bunch and staple in place


Step 10: Add Upholstery Nails

Now here comes the painstakingly tedious part. This was so frustrating in the beginning, trying to get them in a straight line and equally spaced. Then, when Jamison heard me almost having a breakdown he came up with the idea of marking them out with a ruler and fine tipped sharpie. We spaced them 1/2″ apart and I like how that turned out. Much easier.

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 10

Measure out your nail head spacing

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 10

We went with a 1/2″ spacing

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Step 10

Mark your nail head locations and go to town.


Finishing


The base was stained with a Wheat stain from Rust-Oleum and sealed with a satin lacquer spray from Watco

DIY Upholstered X Bench | Finished


Questions? Comments?


As always, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to comment below and especially don’t forget to post pictures of your finished products in the comments! ENJOY!

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