DIY Upcycled Piano Bench

This project has been on my DIY list for quite some time. Mr. Blu just purchased new furniture for our living room so what better time to move forward with this DIY Upcycled Piano bench! Here she is in her current state:

This bench belonged to my Mother-In-Law. She had the most beautiful cherry furniture. We used this bench for many years at the foot of our bed. Several years ago, we moved it to the dining room for extra seating at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Just recently, I placed her by the piano where she fits perfectly but needs an update! The cherry finish is scratched and dated. Time for a new look.

How can it be second Wednesday already? You know that means time for the Thrift Store Decor Team’s projects! It’s been aminute since I painted some furniture so I decided to get my fix. Check out all of the team’s projects at the end of this post.

New Furniture for our Living Room!

Our new furniture is being delivered on Wednesday. It is blue. But, you know how many shades of blue exist?? Way too many. Have I seen it in person? No. Mr. Blu picked it out. He was sure to find options in both blue and grey. But, we agreed on blue. So, I decided to go with a more neutral blue and cross my fingers. Can’t wait to see if my choice will work. I’ve been around long enough to know that a blue in a photo looks very different that the same blue in the showroom. And that same blue will look very different in your space due to many factors mostly lighting and accessories or other furniture in the room. If this color is off, I will simply update this DIY Piano Bench again. After all, I love creating new blues and my favorite DIYs always involve paint.

Prep the DIY Piano Bench for Paint

First step was to remove the seat cushion. This was very simply accomplished by flipping the bench upside down and removing the screws.

The cushion should pop right off. You may need to give it a little tap from the underside depending on how long the cushion has been in place.

Next step was to prep the wood for paint. I gave the whole bench a gently sanding to eliminate some of the scratches and mars.

After a good dusting, I wiped the surface with TSP to remove any residual dirt and dust.

I applied one coat of CUSTOM blended Blue Bird, a Black Dog Salvage Furniture Paint color. You know I’m a blue girl and I plant to use every possible combination of BDSFP blue paint.

The recipe for Blue Bird is 2 parts Clean Canvas and one part Blue Ridge.

You can read more about my favorite recipes from BDSFP in these posts:

Shopatblu Earth Day recycle bin project spring tin can vase

Shopatblu Earth Day recycle bin project black dog salvage furniture paint

shopatblu thrift store painted side table final

shopatblu Black Dog Salvage Furniture Paint Keep it Teal

Back to this project. I added a second coat.

Since I am not sure if the blue I selected will actual compliment the new blue furniture, I decided to add some distressing to make the color less vibrant. Plus, I love a good distressed piece of furniture.

Fabric for this DIY Upcycled Piano Bench

Time to find some fabric. I grabbed these two pieces of fabric from the endless supply closet known as my garage.

Which would you choose knowing you have some sort of mystery blue colored furniture on the way? Since this is my MIL’s bench, I decided on the striped fabric which actually belonged to her!

A quick wrap and a dance with my Ryobi Airstrike cordless stapler and here she is:

And the other side…

It is a little beachy but I love the unexpected oddity of this piece. And, it seems I now have new favorite blue!

I really want to paint this piano a blue color as well. But I need to work on Mr. Blu for that as he thinks I’m crazy. Maybe she will be a future project!