Make The Upholstered Bench Top For My DIY Farmhouse Bench (Easy Steps & Video)

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Make this Easy DIY Upholstered Bench Top for my DIY Farmhouse Bench or adjust the size to make this easy seat for any bench or window seat.

Make A DIY Upholstered Bench Top

In my last post, I went through the steps to build and finish my DIY Farmhouse Bench. Today, we are topping that bench off with an easy upholstered bench seat.

And, don’t worry, this is a super simple, no-sew bench top that anyone can make. Be sure to check out my picks for the 50 Best Fabric By The Yard Online On Amazon & Etsy for some beautiful fabric options.

Farmhouse Style DIY Upholstered Bench Plan with Tongue & Groove shelf. Makes a great end of bed bench, dining table bench, living room coffee table or entry bench.
Top view of upholstered top.

DIY TIP: You can use this tutorial and the video below, to make a no-sew upholstered bench top for any coffee table, bench, or built in shelf.

Just change the MDF size to the size of your surface, and adjust the foam, batting and fabric to fit that MDF size.

Image of a DIY Upholstered Bench Top made with a staple gun and plywood.

How To Make An Upholstered Bench Top – Video

If any of the written steps below are confusing, watch this video to see me upholster an MDF board.

How to Make a No Sew Bench Cushion - DIY Upholstered Bench Seat

How To Upholster A Bench Seat

OK, let’s get this project started with a list of what you’ll need.

Materials Needed

  • 1 – 47 1/2″ x 17 1/2″ piece of 1/2″ Plywood or MDF
  • Fabric, I used this one
  • 3″ Foam Padding – check prices before buying, JoAnn’s sells this for twice as much
  • Spray adhesive
  • High-Loft or Extra-Loft Polyester Batting
  • Staple Gun & 5/16″ Staples
  • Hammer
A DIY Upholstered bench with a shelf. How to build an upholstered bench for the end of your bed, entry, dining room, or living room.
Before adding the seat, the bench is pretty on it’s own. You could easily install a hard top to use this as a DIY Farmhouse Coffee Table too.

Step 1 – Cut Your Board To Size

Cut your 1/2″ MDF or 1/2″ Plywood to 47 1/2″ x 17 1/2″. Brush off all dust and take that board inside.

Farmhouse Style DIY Upholstered Bench Plan with Tongue & Groove shelf. Makes a great end of bed bench, dining table bench, living room coffee table or entry bench.
I think this bench might need a matching headboard soon.

Step 2 – Cut Your Foam To Size

Place the board on top of the 3″ Foam to mark the board outline on the foam. You should only have to cut 2 sides of the foam, if you set the board in the corner.

Farmhouse Style DIY Upholstered Bench Plan with Tongue & Groove shelf. Makes a great end of bed bench, dining table bench, living room coffee table or entry bench.
Mark the outline of the board onto the foam.

Move the board aside to cut your foam with a serrated knife or electric knife. I used a long bread knife to cut mine, but electric knives are the fastest, smoothest way to cut through foam.

Farmhouse Style DIY Upholstered Bench Plan with Tongue & Groove shelf. Makes a great end of bed bench, dining table bench, living room coffee table or entry bench.
My quality control guy inspecting my work.

Step 3 – Add The Batting

After the foam is cut, set the foam on the board and lay the batting on top of both pieces. Cut about an 1″ longer than the batting needs to reach the bottom of the board on all 4 sides.

Batting doesn’t get stretched or stapled to the board. You just want it to lay evenly across the seat without any wrinkles.

Use a drop cloth for the spray adhesive steps. Some adhesives get everywhere. Now use the spray adhesive on the board to attach the foam.

Step by Step Video and written steps for How to Make a No Sew Bench Seat for your window seat, table, or bench.
That Loft Batting is the key to having nice rounded cushion edges on an upholstered seat.

Make sure everything lines up on all 4 sides before the adhesive can dry. Leave the extra material on the corners unglued.

Now place the batting back on the foam and board. Spread it flat and even again. Use the spray adhesive just on the sides of the foam to hold the batting in place. Now trim the batting to size.

You want the batting to reach the bottom of the board on all 4 sides, without wrapping underneath.  Now trim that extra material off the corners too.

Step 4 – Cut The Fabric

Place the fabric on top of the batting. Line it up so that you will have a couple inches on all 4 sides wrapping under the bench seat. Cut your fabric to size. My fabric was cut to 59″x29″.

Iron or steam your fabric, if needed. Be sure to follow the directions for your type of fabric. Certain types of loose weaves or delicate fabrics probably shouldn’t be used for this upholstery method.

Be sure to use an upholstery fabric. Place the fabric face down on a flat surface. Flip the seat, with foam and batting attached, over on the fabric.

Line everything up so that the seat is centered on the fabric. Use any patterns in the fabric or weave as a guide.

How to Make a No Sew Bench Cushion Top for your built in seating, old table, or hard top bench. Here are the easy to follow steps to upholster a board to put on top of hard seating. With a step by step video to show you how.
Stapling on this DIY Upholstered Bench Top fabric.

Step 5 – Staple The Fabric

You want to staple each side, leaving 4″ at each corner alone. We’ll do the corners last. When you staple the fabric to the board, pull with the same amount of tug all along the seat to prevent an uneven look.

Also, pull straight back to the board, not diagonally. You want the fabric to be tight enough to leave the top smooth and the edges slightly rounded.

Make sure that you use a lot of staples, you don’t really want gaps between them. Gaps will cause extra pull on the stapled parts of the fabric.

Farmhouse Style DIY Upholstered Bench Plan with Tongue & Groove shelf. Makes a great end of bed bench, dining table bench, living room coffee table or entry bench.
I’m kinda loving this bench.

The fabric might start to rip if part of it is held in place and others aren’t. For the corners, I stapled the very center to the corner.

Then I folded each sides extra fabric under to create a fold line at each side of the corner. Finish stapling everything down. Trim away all excess fabric, you want a smooth bottom before setting the seat on the bench.

Use a hammer to set the staples flush with the board. My low-tech staple gun seems to always leave them just a little bit raised.

Image of a DIY Upholstered Bench Top made with a staple gun and plywood.
Don’t forget to Save or Share this DIY Upholstered Bench Seat Top.

That’s it, your DIY upholstered bench seat is done!!!

Flip it over and center it on the DIY Farmhouse Bench you built in the last post. Use 1 1/4″ screws to attach the seat at the 4 corners, through the cedar. Now happy dance!

More DIY Projects For You

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Or this post with the 13 Best FREE PDF Furniture Build Plans And 12 Popular Woodworking Projects.

Image shows 1 of the Free PDF Furniture Build Plans for a post with 25 most popular printable build plans and beginner woodworking ideas on AbbottsAtHome.com.

Check out this post for tips and pictures on this office chair makeover.

Beautiful office chair makeover and fixing roller wheels on this chair I found on the curb. Trash to treasure story with full details on the steps to restore an office chair and fix the roller wheels.
Time to get back to work!

How about another DIY? Check out how I cut 1 of my Laundry Room cabinets in half to create this Mudroom Bench area for less than $100!

Looking for DIY Mudroom Ideas? You can upcycle your old cabinets into a beautiful and affordable DIY Laundry and Mudroom Combo. This cabinet update was less than $100. And the mudroom bench, coat, and shoe storage makes this space so much more functional!

Feeling inspired? Now that you have my DIY Upholstered Bench Top, get out there and make your own.

Follow the links above to get the things you’ll need. Have fun and let me know if you have questions. Or post pictures of your work and tag Abbotts At Home on FB, I’d love to see it!

37 thoughts on “Make The Upholstered Bench Top For My DIY Farmhouse Bench (Easy Steps & Video)”

  1. We just spotted this project now! Thanks for using our Arrow T50 staple gun for your upholstered bench. You can also check out our handy staple lifter to remove any staples you don’t like. #MadeWithArrow

  2. I have built-ins in my living room that had outdated red cushions on them. For the longest time I have wanted new cushions, but thought I would have to pay someone to sew something together for me. After ordering all the materials the other week I finally had time to make them. My new cushions look AMAZING!! They were super easy to do especially with your nice instructions and easy to order links! I was nervous about ordering fabric off of Amazon, but I am very impressed with the quality and thickness of the material. Oh the things you can get from Amazon. Thanks for this amazing post!

  8. I am so in love with bench and you have inspired me to fix up my foyer bench. Thanks for linking up with us at the Waste Not Wednesday link party….you are my featured post for the week. Keep coming back and inspiring us.

  10. Turned out amazing and the fabric is so beautiful! I need an electric knife. It’s important to have the right tools and it’s hard to cut foam 😀 Thanks for sharing with us at Funtastic Friday!

  12. Stephanie, Love this project! You did a great job with it. We’ll be featuring your post at next week’s Brag About it Link Party. Thanks so much for sharing with us!

  17. The upholstered bench looks great! I really like the turned legs and the solid, sturdy character of the whole piece. Very attractive — and, the storage is an extra perk.
    Carol (“Mimi”) from Home with Mimi

  18. You really are a Master at doing this Stephanie. I love how you explain everything so nicely and your wood working projects always turn out so beautifully. Pottery Barn beware, there’s some serious competition in town 😉

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