Dollar Tree DIY: Pool Noodle Bench $474 vs $30

[Music] hi guys welcome back to another video so today i'm going to be doing a tutorial on how i diy this tufted bench i've posted a short form video of it but i got a ton of requests for a more in-depth tutorial on how to make it so i thought i would bring you guys along to make another one i had seen one at one of my favorite furniture stores and totally fell in love with it but it was dollars so decided to diy it instead so i went straight from that store to the dollar tree because my first thought was to get pool noodles i'd seen other people do kind of that tufted look um with headboards and other things similar but i thought it would actually make a great cushion too so i ran to dollar tree to get some pool noodles i was totally winging it when i did the first one so there are a few things that i would do differently this time but i thought i would bring you guys out and show you how i pick out fabric and wood the one that i made before ended up costing me about thirty dollars and that would vary depending on what fabric you pick out and how big you want your bench but if you keep it around the same size and similar fabric as the one that i did it should be around thirty dollars so yeah i guess we'll just jump into make an event follow me so my first stop was to home depot to get some wood for the base and i was making it a goal with this project to keep it kind of on a budget and as cheap as possible so if you want to get other wood feel free to do that this is just the cheapest way to do it while maintaining quality and stability for your bench so i got one of these plywood panels and i'm gonna have them cut it down to the size that i need as well as grabbing one of these two by sixes which i will have them cut down as well if you're like me and don't have access to a lot of power tools or if you just don't feel comfortable cutting wood yourself most hardware stores like this will have a cutting department and they can help you cut down your wood to the size that you need so then i ventured over to the hardware section to get some corner braces and i just got a pack of four of the two inch ones then i went to pick up some pool noodles from the dollar store i did design this project around the length of these pool noodles they're 42 inches i believe so if you get your pool noodles somewhere else just make sure they're the same length or you might need to change the measurements of your bench when i was picking out fabric for this project i was modeling it after the original bench that i had seen which was kind of like a velvety material but you could use whatever material that you want i would just pick something that is thick and has a little bit of cushion to it like these quilted ones and if you go with a thinner fabric i would maybe get batting to put underneath while i was looking at fabric i did have an epiphany that i have a quilt at home that might be perfect for this project so i decided to go with that with this specific bench but the first bench that i did i got the fabric here at joann's so before we get started i just wanted to quickly go over what tools i'm going to be using for the project i have a staple gun and i'm using the longer staples you're gonna need a drill um some short screws and some long screws i have half inch ones here and one and a half inch ones um some scissors some wood glue and i'm using e6000 but you can use whatever glue that you want and then the corner braces that we got so i got the two inch ones and on my last uh stool that worked great but if you feel like you want more stability for your stool you can get bigger sizes so that's all we're going to need for tools and i'm just going to jump straight into this all right so the first step is going to be putting together these wood panels and we're going to be using the corner braces for this as well as the wood glue first i applied the wood glue and then placed it onto the other panel and one thing to keep in mind is that the corner braces we got the screws that come with them are a little bit too long for this project which is why we have the half inch screws and that is what i used to put on these corner braces so that it didn't stick all the way through the wood after you have all three panels pieced together we're gonna take that two by six that we got and place it in the center and this is just gonna act as a temporary brace for while the glue is drying don't screw it in quite yet we will get there later while the glue is drying i got to cutting up my fabric the first piece of fabric that i cut is going to be for the underneath of the bench and it is going to be a roughly 20 by 60. going to be honest didn't measure it out very well when i was doing it i kind of just wong it but i would keep it around those measurements so that you have enough leeway to wrap it around the sides of the bench when we're lining the underneath like i am here and i just left about two inches overhang of fabric and then i went ahead and stapled it in place and worked my way all the way to the other side when you're stapling make sure you're pulling the fabric completely tight so that there's no slack just to avoid any wrinkling of the fabric underneath [Music] the next step is going to be wrapping that 2x6 brace in fabric and i just cut the fabric to size and then wrapped it around and stapled it when you're stapling the fabric on either end of this piece just make sure that the staples are completely flush with the wood because we're going to be sliding it back in to place and you don't want to rip the fabric that you already so neatly wrapped around your panels once you've put your brace back in place which may take a little bit of effort um then you're gonna go ahead and screw it in and i just used the longer screws for this they were like one and a half inches and i just use two on either side to secure this in place now that the underneath is done we're going to be moving on to the top of the bench and i just used the rest of the fabric that i had and really depending on how stretchy of fabric that you got this might be different for everybody so i would just use a really big piece of fabric and you can cut off the excess later start by placing the fabric upside down and stapling it on one edge of the bench and then you're gonna grab your noodle and center it and put it all the way to the edge and fold the fabric over and pull it tight i personally found this to be the most tedious part of the project after you get this first noodle on then the rest become a lot easier but this first one might be a struggle so just be patient with it and take your time when wrapping each noodle i started by stapling in the center and then working my way all the way down the edges with every staple you're gonna want to pull the fabric as tight as possible especially with this first one because if the fabric is kind of wonky on the first one it makes the rest of them really hard then just continue with this process you place the noodle underneath wrap the fabric over make sure it's pushed all the way up against the other noodle and then start stapling from the center [Music] just like the first noodle the last one might give you some trouble too but it just requires a little bit of pushing and pulling to make sure that it doesn't hang over the edge at all after you've stapled the last one in then we're gonna move on to the bottom of the noodles on the sides where we have all this excess fabric and we're just gonna staple in all the way along the edge right under the noodle as close as you can after you're done stapling you can go ahead and cut off any excess fabric and it's totally okay if this seam doesn't look perfect because we're going to be covering it here in a second i just used some of my excess fabric and folded it to create this cover for the bottom and also the back and i just tucked under the edges and stapled them down to create a seamless look and that was the last step and now we're completely done with our cute little tufted bench i got a lot of questions on my shorts tutorial of this so i just wanted to quickly answer a few of them a lot of people were wondering if they make weird noises but they aren't uh super loud or super squeaky i think the fabric just kind of muffles any pool noodle sound and a lot of people were curious how stable it is and i can jump on mine and it's totally fine and it doesn't tip or flex at all and overall it's really comfortable bench i would say it's comparable to the 474 dollar one so thanks so much for watching make sure you subscribe for more diy like this and i will see you next time [Music]

Channel: Annika Hinds

Views: 111,357

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Id: gVf0TrHpXiY

Length: 8min 23sec (503 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 18 2022