HOW TO TURN A CURB-SHOPPED SETTEE BENCH INTO A GLAM FRENCH SETTE | YOUTUBE VIDEO COMING THIS SATURDAY!

Hi, sweet creative friends! Today I have a curb-shopped Settee Bench Makeover for you! I have to admit when my sister first brought it to me I was like meh, but now that we painted and reupholstered it, she’s adorable… and I can’t wait for you to see what we did using old chair spindles!

I’m also sharing

• How to color match paint
• An AMAZING product to hide furniture imperfections
• How to highlight details with wax
• How to repurpose old chair spindles
• The cheapest place to buy foam for upholstery

And bonus, it’s also the fourth Thursday of the month. This means I have the honor of joining my super talented Furniture Fixer Upper Crew with their makeovers as well. Be sure to check out their pieces at the bottom of this post and then click the link to see the after!

Here’s the curb-shopped settee bench we started with.  It was structurally sound but needed a really good cleaning and reupholstering.

The fabric smelled like smoke.

And the bird droppings didn’t help either. 😂

THIS POST IS SPONSORED/CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS TO PRODUCTS I USE.  YOU CAN SEE MY FULL DISCLOSURE HERE.

SOURCE LIST

Settee Bench – SALVAGED

White Lightning
Sanding Sponge
Woodubend Appliques
Wood Glue
Paint Brush
Sand Castle Silk Paint
Endless Shore Silk Paint
Clear Wax | Gray Wax

TOOL LIST

Scissors
Measuring Tape
Dewalt Drill Set
Ryobi Miter Saw
Pneumatic Staple Gun
Heat Gun

 

PAINTED SETTEE BENCH

Here’s how it all came together. A big thanks to my sister Andrea. She was kind enough to give me a hand with this project as I’m still not up to speed with my broken foot. She also asked me to say thank you to all of you who gave her a shout-out in the comments over the last few weeks. She really appreciates it!  I better be careful – she could be planning a blog takeover! 😉

PREP | CLEAN 

I started by cutting off the old dirty tassels.

Then we removed the old seat using this Dewalt impact driver.

After we removed the seat from the base, I gave it a really good cleaning with this White Lightning and scuff sanding with this sanding sponge.

PAINT 

I had a small amount of this Sand Castle Silk Paint. I added a small amount of Endless Shore to the Sand Castle to give me enough to paint 2 coats on the settee. Andrea wanted the color to be similar but “cleaner and more updated” so I think we matched it really nicely. When paint-matching, I like to use a paper plate to mix my colors. Tip – Let them dry before deciding which is a close match! You can also use a color match app like this one here. Most brands of paint companies have them online and the accuracy is impressive!

REPURPOSING CHAIR SPINDLES

To make new ‘arms’ for this settee we used repurposed chair spindles. Each spindle had a hole in it (which I’ll share how I covered that up easy peasy in this Saturday’s video and below!) and was slightly too long which was easy to fix.

• I started by picking chair spindles that had a nice shape
• I measured each side 11 1/4 inches long
• I cut the chair spindle to size using my miter saw
• And installed the arms using a large screw

HIDING IMPERFECTIONS

To hide the holes on the chair spindles and the holes on the frame, it was Woodubend to the rescue! I keep all my little bits and pieces of Woodubend because they not only hide imperfections but make everything look beautiful as well!

I used these sweet floral roses to hide the hole in the spindles.

Woodubend is wood that actually bends when heated. This makes it super easy to bend into the shape of whatever you’re gluing it onto.  I have a full tutorial on How To Use Woodubend here.

TOPCOAT | PROTECTION 

I used clear wax over the entire piece not so much for protection (it already has the topcoat included in the paint) but to provide a base coat for some darker wax. Then to add a little extra dimension to the Woodubend and existing details, I added gray wax to the details and then wiped the excess off. When we think of dark waxing, we usually think of black or brown wax. But using a softer gray or even mixing a custom color of wax can really highlight details without looking too harsh!

REUPHOLSTER 

Andrea removed the old seat fabric and foam and had the new foam cut to size at The Foam Centre here in Burlington. Tip – If you have a local foam center in your area, be sure to check it out when doing these types of projects. For $11, we had a 1″ piece of foam cut to the shape of our board and glued on for us!

To recover the new seat, Andrea cut the batting to the size of the seat leaving an extra 6″ all around the edges. And then we cut some leftover velvet fabric oversized as well. Then using one of my favorite tools, my pneumatic staple gun, we stapled the batting and fabric to the underside of the bench. To finish it off, the seat was reattached with screws from the underside.

FINISHED LOOK!

What do you think? Isn’t she sweet?!

It looks (and smells!) so much cleaner!

Another piece road-rescued from our landfill!

YOUTUBE TUTORIAL

Here’s a step-by-step tutorial on Youtube. If you have any problems viewing below, feel free to watch it on my Youtube Channel HERE. Our #siyoutubefamily is already a community of 15.5K so don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t done so already! So exciting, thank YOU! 🙂

AND NOW FOR SOME FURNITURE FIXER-UPPER FUN!

You’re going to LOVE what my creative team of Furniture Fixer Upper ladies do!  Below are their BEFORE photos. Visit the links below to see the amazing AFTERS and learn how they did it! I’m heading over to take a peek as well! x

1. SALVAGED INSPIRATIONS (HAPPY YOU’RE HERE!)

2. GIRL IN THE GARAGE

3. CONFESSIONS OF A SERIAL DIYER

4. PETTICOAT JUNKTION

Here’s another look at this small settee bench before and after. I hope it’s inspired you and given you some new ideas for your projects!

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF THIS CURBSIDE SETTEE BENCH MAKEOVER. FEEL FREE TO ASK ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE… I ALWAYS LOVE HEARING FROM YOU. IT MAKES MY DAY! 🙂

Happy furniture painting friends!

Denise x

RELATED POSTS::

PAINTING FABRIC WITH CHALK PAINT

HOW TO REUPHOLSTER A SEAT

GOLD AND VELVET CHAIR MAKEOVER

DIY TUFTED FOOTSTOOL

HOW TO UPHOLSTER A BENCH

PIN AND SHARE!