Telephone Table Makeover

I've been half-heartedly searching for a telephone table -- or some call them gossip tables or gossip benches --for quite awhile now. Something about them just really appeals to me. I practically squealed with glee when I saw this one at my local Goodwill. It was marked $20-something, but I had a coupon for making a donation, so I ended up paying around $17 for it. The cashier was quite jealous!

The cushion easily came out as it just was screwed in from underneath. I simply recovered it with some toile upholstery fabric I had leftover from a different project--the fabric just is stapled onto the backside of the cushion. I really should have redone the cushion foam, but I was too impatient.

My next step was to paint the entire bench with an oil based primer because there was NO way I was dealing with sanding all of those spindles! Because I was doing this inside my house due to the cold and nasty weather outside, I did this with a brush, but it would have been much easier to do the spindles with a spray primer. I did three coats of primer.
Next it was two (maybe three...I can't remember!) coats of my favorite Benjamin Moore Decorator White paint. This is the same paint I used on my beadboard kitchen cabinet project. Then it was time to reattach the cushion.


I love it and so do my little ones--I often see them perched on the bench. Sometimes they both squeeze onto the seat together! I'm thinking about rubbing antiquing glaze onto it, but I haven't decided yet.

Linking to Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest and Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots and Jello and Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog--come check out all the fun projects at these great link-ups!