Custom Upholstered Piano Bench Tutorial | A DIY tutorial explaining how I transformed an old piano bench into a stylish and custom addition to my One Room Challenge Room

This bench was a small, but statement making, addition to my One Room Challenge reveal.  I’ve received some questions about it, so I thought I should give you a quick upholstered piano bench tutorial.

Note: The fabric in this tutorial was kindly sponsored by Spoonflower.

One of the questions I’ve been asked is where to buy this sweet fabric. Well, let me tell you. I worked with David Reynoso (IG: @designreynoso), and he came up with the spectacular design.  I had contemplated using it on a bed, but it just fit too perfectly with the black and white keys of the paino.  Don’t you think?

I printed it out on Celosia Velvet, one of a long list of fabric options offered at Spoonflower.com.  Spoonflower is my go to site any time I’m looking for unique or completely custom fabric. 

Here’s what I started with.  It wasn’t horrible, but I wanted to inject a pop of color and bold pattern to that side of the room.

I needed to remove the old upholstery so that it didn’t cause binding around the two hinges.  I used a staple remover to pop out those little suckers.

Quickly realized that I needed to remove the entire seat first, I took the screw driver to it.  I took special care not to lose the screws.

Using simple quilting batting and an upholstery gun, I applied an even layer of batting to the entire bench.

Since it was a geometric pattern, it was imperative that lined up the shapes symmetrically and evenly.  Since the body needed to match-up with the seat as much as possible, I knew that a crooked seat would lead to a wonky over-all look.

I cut extra fabric in the corners so that the seat would lay as tight to the bench as possible.

To reattached the bench, I tried to line up the hinges in the old screw holes, but I took special care to ensure that the seat still lined-up evenly on the bench.

This part was a tad trickier.  I picked one long side and did my best to match up the pattern with the seat and then stapled everything into place.

I trimmed out the center section, leaving enough fabric to wrap around the legs as needed.

I then repeated on the other long side and then the two short sides.  Not all of the sides lined-up, but I did my best to make it work, focusing on the parts that would be seen the most.

After the fabric has been stapled (or optionally hand sewn) down the legs, and stapled under the feet, I set it it’s new place of prominence…My One Room Challenge living room.

Thanks for joining me on this upholstered piano bench tutorial.