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DIY Bench With Piled Velvet & Wood

One of the things that I have gotten so many questions about in our bedroom reading nook, is this bench. And good news! It’s a DIY bench, so you can make one too. Whoohoo! I knew I wanted something to sit on and put a bag down if needed and a simple DIY bench seemed like the perfect idea.

DIY bench

We could have just made the DIY bench out of wood, but since I want our bedroom to feel filled with texture and comfort, we decided to create a pretty piled look using rose colored velvet fabric. I couldn’t have dreamed it would turn out this pretty.

It might be my favorite DIY house project yet. Which is saying a lot, because I really loved those DIY candle holders sitting on the mantel. The bench though is just so filled with texture and ads a perfect touch to the space.

DIY bench cushion

How to make a wooden benchDIY Bench

To make this piled velvet & wood DIY bench you will need:

  • Wood frame for the bench
  • 2 yards fabric (We used rose crushed velvet)
  • 5 yards of 1” diameter piping cord
  • Sewing machine
  • Sewing pins
  • Scissors
  • Ruler
  • Staple gun with 1/2” staples

velvet cordingDIY Bench Cushion

1. Cut fabric into 4” wide strips at two lengths: You’ll need x strips at 13” + the length of your bench seat and x strips at 9” + the width of your DIY bench to make the DIY bench cushion.

2. Cut the cording into x strips at 6” + the length & x strips at 6” + the width.

DIY piping instructions3. Once the fabric and cording is cut, start encasing the cording in the fabric strips. Fold the fabric in half around the piping and pin in place, this step you will need the sewing machine for. But the DIY bench cushion is so worth the effort! I promise.

DIY bench seat
4. Thread the sewing machine and sew as close to the velvet piping as possible. Sew a straight stitch along the length of the cording, removing pins as you go. Repeat with all cordings, until you have enough to cover the DIY bench seat.

DIY wooden bench

DIY Wood Bench

5. Begin stapling the long fabric strips along the underside of the shorter edge of the bench, and the short fabric strips along the underside of the longer edge of the board.

DIY bench seat step by step instructionsDIY Bench Seat

6. Flip the DIY bench seat over and lay the long strips over the length of the board. Begin weaving the strips together with a basket type weave comprised of ‘over one, under one.’ Make sure to push the shorter strips back up towards the top, and pull everything very tight as you go. As soon as you’ve woven in about 3 short strips, staple the ends of those cords on the bottom side of the bench towards the edge.

7. Continue weaving until the entire top of the bench is woven. Finish by stapling the long fabric strips to the bottom side of the bench.

8. Cut back any strips (& re-staple, if necessary) any that cover up your pre-drilled bracket holes.

DIY bench with piled velvet
Assemble the legs to complete this DIY bench. Between the wood and the velvet DIY bench cushion it really does make for a cozy place to rest a minute before headed out of our room. And the texture that the crushed velvet ads fits right in with the rest of our bedroom filled with texture and pretty details. I’ll be sharing the full reveal later this month which also includes our DIY paint by numbers artwork and this pretty woven yarn wreath.

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