Playroom Progress - Sweet Seating Part 1

Happy Monday!  I hope you all had a super fantastic weekend!  I am excited to be popping in today with more playroom progress.  I can't wait to check this room off of our project list.  Playrooms are my favorite rooms to "play" with when it comes to design and organizing, so to finally be working and making progress on ours has been oodles of fun for me lately.

Before I get into our seating solution for the playroom, let's take a second to remember what we started with.

If you have been following the blog for a while, you have probably noticed that we play musical chairs with those white slipcovered chairs.  They really haven't ever found a permanent place to call home, they are typically room fillers and always land in a place that needs seating until something better comes along.  I was going to Craigslist them, but I really love their versatility and the fact that they have washable slipcovers, so they may just hang out in storage for a bit.  What I do know is that they are not ideal for a playroom.  First, they are white.  Surprisingly, they don't get all that dirty, and when they do, they are washable.  However, they still require maintenance more frequently because they are in a playroom that belongs to three boys.  Second, there are only two chairs and we have three boys... that's never a good equation.  Third, I can't snuggle up and read a book or watch a movie with the boys in those chairs.  That is a must.

So, I have known for a while that the chairs were going to be temporary in the playroom, it was now a matter of making a decision on the best solution for the space.

I thought up a couple of options:

• Daybed:  Too deep for the space, wouldn't leave enough room for play and would cause an awkward layout
• Settee: Perfect size but too fancy pants for a playroom
• Sofa:  Most expensive option.  Takes up much of the room as well.  Would need to find something that could be slip-covered and would need to be washed frequently.
• Bench: They are typically a good size and could give the playroom layout flexibility.

I weighed out all the options, and decided a bench was the way to go.  Plus, we still had a couple of bins of wooden train tracks, blocks and Geotrax sets that were in need of storage, so if I could find a way to combine the storage and seating, that would be a giant win for us.

So the last I left you the room was freshly painted and stenciled with a fun birch tree wall treatment:

Now, before you say it, I will.  I could write a book, 1,001 ways to hack an Expedit bookcase from IKEA... You know where I am going with this right?

I couldn't help it.  We used an Expedit as storage in our last playroom {which now lives in the laundry room}, so I already knew how much one Expedit can hold in terms of toys {or anything really}.  And now that I am an IKEA family member, I scored two Expedits for a total of $100.

Oh yeah, we cheated and snagged a new light fixture too.  The kids picked it.  I decided since I was already the last on the birch tree train, I may as well be the last on the IKEA Maskros light train as well...

Anywho, do you see all that seating/storage we are gaining with those two Expedits?  Boatloads!!

Not the softest yet, but absolutely space saving and storage adding.  To make them nice and cozy, we ran to Home Depot and had them cut down two pieces of MDF board; one the length of one Expedit, and one the length of one Expedit plus the distance from the end of the Expedit to the wall.  Then, we went to JoAnn Fabric & Craft Store and purchased 2" foam:

 
In the photo above, you can see the depth of each item.

The foam came cut the right length by the fabulous Joann employees, however, it was a bit too wide for the bench.  To cut the foam, we started by placing the MDF board on top of the foam and marking the exact size with a black Sharpie marker:

And then cutting the foam down to size with our Thanksgiving turkey carving knife.  Like butta!

Because I don't have the sewing skills to sew a slipcover for the foam cushions, we made the choice to upholster it instead.  I found some pretty green indoor/outdoor fabric here.  I always go with indoor/outdoor fabric when possible since it's great for durability with kidlets.  If you are planning on re-creating this project, I recommend you measure and order accordingly.  Some fabric selections will allow you to get two seat widths and others will not.  It all depends on the shape, size and fabric you personally select for your space.

After measuring, cutting and ironing the fabric, we laid it out on the floor face down.  Then, placed down the foam and the MDF board on top.

We used the pattern as a guide to keep the fabric straight as we pulled and stapled all the way around the board.

We actually folded the fabric over before stapling it, just to be sure the staple had two layers to grab through and to be sure it was not going to easily tear or fall apart.

Not the prettiest, but nice and straight and tight.

Next step was to place the upholstered cushions back on to the Expedits and breath a giant sigh of relief when all fits and looks amazing!

And that is as far as we got this weekend making this post part one of a two part project.  Next steps are to add support in the corner where the bench overhangs the Expedit and affix the cushions to the Expedit and the Expedit to the wall.  Then, we can add a part three post of adding baskets and lots of pillows and cozy things to break up all that busy {but playroom fun} pattern on pattern going on.

Who else is feeling accomplished after this weekend?  Anyone else been hacking IKEA pieces lately?

Pssst!  See how we added corner support and affixed the bench tops here.