I . Hate . Clutter

I have always thought of myself as the crafty type and as a creative, I love the idea of repurposing something from it’s intended use; creating something new. Although it’s been three years since we purchased our home my husband and I have taken our time in furnishing it. We not only want to be financially responsible with our purchases but we also want to fill out home with meaningful items we love, not buy things just because we need them. It’s a strange feeling as having lived in rentals all my life, and moving every few years as well as moving out of my dorm every semester in college I have learned that while making your living space homey and inspired feels good, taking all the stuff down and moving everything you’ve accumulated does not. This has caused me to accumulate less and less over the years and adopt a clutter-free mindset. While I would love to call myself a minimalist I just can’t. I don’t like clutter, and I don’t like having my home filled with items that don’t serve a purpose but if you were to walk into my home right now you would see art, books, video games, electronics, kitchenware (so much kitchenware) and all kinds of items that we could probably do without. So instead of dubbing myself a minimalist I prefer the term clutter-free. Our home isn’t the largest and so when we do purchase items we prefer for them to be multifunctional and aesthetically pleasing. We keep items around that “spark joy” (see Marie Kondo) and have meaning to us. This is another reason I don’t really like gift exchanges, or gifts in general unless they are flowers or food. Both of which are temporary and will not occupy limited space in my home for extended periods of time. My home is my sanctuary and I like picking out those items that I will see every day myself.

DIY Storage Bench

In an effort to free up space in my kitchen I wanted to create a contained space where I could store my cats’ water fountain, food bowl, dry food, and other items. There was some available space near the front door but a regular shelf or cabinet wouldn’t work as my cats needed to be able to access their food and water at all times. After some thinking, I decided on a storage bench. Not only would a storage bench be useful for my cats but the bench itself could be used for seating and my cats could use that space for napping as well.

After some internet sleuthing I stumbled upon Feeling Nifty’s DIY instructions using Ikea’s BESTÅ TV stand. I changed a few things, mainly the material I used to cover the bench. I originally wanted to use madras but finding a piece of madras fabric that large in the states proved to be challenging. My next idea was to use a fabric that had a palm leaf or banana leaf pattern to match other fabrics throughout our home. Of course, once I went to the craft store every fabric I had in mind was insanely expensive. Having spent so much on the bench and foam already I decided to look in the clearance bin and found something that matched our green dining chairs! You can see my steps below.

You Will Need

BESTA stand from Ikea
1/4 inch thick MDF board cut to 47.25 x 15 inches. (I purchased MDF board at Home Depot then had them cut it down to size for free)
Fabric to cover your bench. At least 57.5 x 25 inches worth of fabric.
Tip: Check the clearance section for cheap fabric. You may be surprised at what you find.
Staple gun
Hook and loop velcro strips
Spray adhesive glue
High density foam
Cotton sheet (optional)
Storage bins (optional)
Drill or utility knife (optional)
Shelf liner (optional)
An extra set of hands for steps 3 and 4 (optional)

Fabric I found on sale in the clearance section

STEPS

1. Using Ikea’s instructions put together the BESTA stand.

2. Glue the cut foam to the MDF board using your spray adhesive. I used a utility knife to cut through the foam.

3. Wrap your optional cotton sheet (cut to the same size as your fabric) around your bench seat. According to Feeling Nifty’s blog, this adds a breathability layer. Be sure to pull the sheet taut and staple to the underside of the MDF board. You don’t need to staple too much here, just enough to hold the fabric in place. You will add more staples with your final fabric. I skipped this step

4. Wrap your outer layer of fabric around your bench seat, stapling to the underside of the MDF board, and pulling taut as you go. For neater edges be sure to fold the fabric in on itself and fold the corners as you would when wrapping a present.

I made the mistake of not cutting away the excess fabric away and it caused lots of issued later when I tried to adhere to the velcro. Please be sure to cut away excess fabric so that some of the MDF board is visible on the underside.

5. Cut and place your adhesive velcro strips on the underside of your bench seat and the top side of the BESTA stand. This will prevent the seat from sliding once someone sits on it.

Here is a photo of what I did but please do not follow. Be sure to cut away excess fabric so that some of the MDF board is visible on the underside. Then stick the velcro directly to the MDF board. The velcro will not adhere to the fabric.

6. If you will be using this for your pets as I did you will want to line the bottom shelves in an easy to clean waterproof material such as shelf liner to place under their food and water. I used I also drilled a hole in the back to run the power cord for the fountain.