My new bits and bobs box restoration- Part 4 Upholstering

One of the things that attracted me to this box in the first place was the padded top. I like things to have more than one purpose.

So having cleaned, scrubbed, painted and waxed this box into a rather handy thing to have around I had to tackle upholstery. I am no upholsterer. But I have nailed fabric to wood with a bit of padding before so I was determined to make it work this time.

As a technique this was successful if not correct. More importantly it was easy and I was able to do it with no help.

Cut out your fabric so that you have a margin of just over the depth of the foam (loads of places on ebay to get pre-cut foam). Fold the edge of the fabric over and iron it flat. This will help you get  neat edge.

 At this stage it feel like you haven't cut the fabric big enough. Don't worry! Place the box (or whatever it is you are covering) upside down on top of the foam:

 (At this point you really will be losing faith in the size of the fabric. Trust me!)

With care kneel on top the the box so that you can push down the foam just enough to nail one upholstery pin in into the centre of each side.

(Yes you will be looking daft right now as your bum will be in the air and your face will be getting slightly red from being upside down.)

Put another 2 pins in on each side to get the fabric evenly stretched:

 Start hammering pins in all round the fabric. I find it easier now to right the box up and gently push down on the fabric covered foam till it is in the right place:

 Top Tip: If you are using a fabric that has a right way up do make sure that you have the correct way for the furniture....Ahem I may not have done this:

 I had to unpick everything and go back to the start so things were not as neat as they would have been.

Anyway once you have got everything pinned in place it's time to tackle the corners. They are not as tricky as they seem.

Take one of the sides of fabric, fold it over the edge and snip it about 2 cm in from the edge:

On the other side of the flap cut a corresponding snip and remove the small square of fabric:

Hold the first fold down and carefully fold the second part over to make a nice tight fold and pin. It is worth not hammering it in too far so that you can fiddle with it a bit to make it neat.

Once you are happy you can finish it all off:

Do the other three corners.

Top Tip: It is neater to fold the same way each time. I had the fabric from the short edges of the box fold inward first followed by the long edges.

After a month we finally have a fully restored box. Hooray! Time for some before and after shots....

I was going to take some snaps of the inside empty and pristine but who am I kidding? This is as tidy as it will ever be. It is a working box you know.