Easy Bench Makeover

This weekend I completed a project that I have had on the back-burner for a long time. I bought this bench nearly a year ago at Goodwill for about $10. It's really sturdy, and I knew it would be useful for us. Our living room has limited seating, so it's a great extra option for when we have a lot of people over. 

The bench had been sitting as-is in our living room for a year, and on Saturday I finally decided I was over it. The most ridiculous thing was that this project took me a total of 30min (excluding drying time). I've lamented it before, but why do I always put off the easiest projects?

Even though, I am not under the delusion that the internet needs another bench makeover post, I'll give you the run down of how I did it (just in case anyone needs the motivation to tackle something easy they've been putting off).

Step 1: Take it a part. Most of the time, you will have to unscrew a few things to get the seat off, but I was lucky: the top just popped off.

Step 2: Give it a light sanding. Since I was staining and I like the look of imperfect wood, I didn't feel the need to get too intense. I just lightly sanded the entire bench enough to get the sheen of the previous stain off.

Step 3: Stain it. I gave it two coats with a wet cloth wipe down in between. 

Step 4: Staple it. I actually just stapled the burlap OVER the other fabric, because I figured the burlap was a little bit see-through so it would help to have a little bit of substance behind it. Also, I was feeling lazy :)

Ta-Da! The fabric is actually a coffee bean bag. My bff Emily works at a coffee shop, so she hooked me up with a few awesome bags. (Em, I finally put them to good use!). I love the way it looks with the stained wood and I also love that the color of the fabric won't look bad if it gets a little dirty. I would blame my kids for getting things dirty, except... I don't have kids. 

Linking up:
 The DIY Show Off
Under The Table and Dreaming
 Elizabeth & Co