DIY Leather Strap Rolling Benches

So I loved my Craigslist Remix mockup so much that I had to have these DIY Leather Strap benches in my life. I tried to keep my version close to the Katy Skelton Safari Bench while playing up the darker shade of wood on my Craigslist find. Keep reading to see how you can make these for yourself!

Final DIY Leather Strap Benches:

Learn how to upgrade any benches with this DIY Leather Strap Bench tutorial on And Then We Tried

A reminder of where we started:

I rounded up a bunch of bench options at the end of the post if you want to make your own DIY leather strap benches!

rolling-benches-og

Follow us on Instagram to see our latest projects

How it all went down

I unscrewed the cushion from the frame

original-fabric

break-apart

wood-frame

Under the pink fabric was this retro green, white and pink pattern:

second-fabric

Looking at that photo now, I should have kept the fabric to make some vintagey little pouches, but I threw it away. After pulling all the fabric off, I was left with the cushion foam.

foam-bench

I tried to wrap the cushion with the fabric in one piece(by folding under the corners), but it wasn’t working well on the curves, so I enlisted the help of my trusty seamstress/mother to sew a curved seam on the edges like the original fabric.

fabric-drape

When I tested out the leather straps to measure the length, they left a small mark on the fabric, so I sprayed the fabric with Scotchguard and the leather with an aerosol waterproofing spray(you can get this at DSW if you don’t want to wait for shipping) to help keep the color from leaking. I prefer to use aerosol spray vs. the non-aerosol sprays for most projects, and shoes, because I think it leaves a more even finish. The non-aerosol sprays tend to leave spritz marks on the material and I’m never sure they are going to fade away uniformly.

waterproof-leather

I used a staple gun to attach the fabric to the bottom of the seat and screwed the cushion back on the frame. After that, it was time to add the leather straps. I shoved the leather through the strap slots and stapled it in place. If you are trying this with one of the benches at the end of the post and don’t have a bench with strap slots, you would measure your leather to wrap over the cushion and staple each end to the underside. Voila:cream-leather-benches

 

Learn how to upgrade any benches with this DIY Leather Strap Bench tutorial on And Then We Tried Learn how to upgrade any benches with this DIY Leather Strap Bench tutorial on And Then We Tried

Learn how to upgrade any benches with this DIY Leather Strap Bench tutorial on And Then We Tried

Slide to see the final before + after:


All about that $$$:

These were listed on Craigslist at $75 for the sofa table + two benches, but I paid $50. The leather was about $35 and the fabric was $15

Total: $100


Make your own DIY leather strap benches with a new bench:

If you don’t stumble across some cool benches on Craigslist, I think you could get a similar look by wrapping either of these benches with the leather strips and staple gunning them to the underside. You wouldn’t even need to recover the cushions since these are neutral colors!

First: Alpharetta Upholstered Storage Bench

Second: Simpli Home Milltown Small Upholstered Bench

And if those aren’t your style, here are a ton more benches that would look sweet with leather straps:

My Supplies:

Linen Fabric P/K Lifestyles Upholstery Fabric-Bentley Twill Cream

Leather Strap Options: 

1-3/4″ x 84″ VINTAGE TAN OIL TANNED Leather Strip 5-6oz

1-3/4″ x 96″ VINTAGE TAN OIL TANNED Leather Strip 5-6oz – I used this but it has been sold out lately

Springfield Leather Company Burgundy Latigo Leather Strip 1-3/4″x72″

 

Thoughts?

  • Do you love it? I love it. George (the cat) clearly loves it.

Let me know if you have any questions or are making your own in the comments

Post contains affiliate links
Learn how to upgrade any benches with this DIY Leather Strap Bench tutorial on And Then We Tried

Share:

More Posts

Attaching a wood fence to a chainlink fence

As I mentioned in my last fence/gate update post, I helped Erika attach a wood fence to the chainlink fence in her backyard. The process was similar to when I converted a chainlink fence to a wood fence, except in this case, we left the chainlink fence intact. This method is a good option if you want to add a little more privacy to your yard or camouflage a chainlink fence while you wait to save up for a completely new fence. 

Gift Guide: Indoorsy

Struggling to find gift ideas for your favorite people? We’ve got you covered with our And Then We Tried gift guide! First up: your friends and family who are decidedly indoorsy. While we can’t claim to be experts on much, things to buy people who like to stay inside is definitely in our wheelhouse.

and then we tried obsessions 10.19.18

Obsessions: 10.19.18

You wanna know what we have been decidedly NOT obsessed with in the past month? The blog. Womp womp. We’re hopping back in this week, but we’ll be posting a bit more sporadically for a while. Here’s hoping you all loved getting caught up on Michelle’s driveway gate plans yesterday. See what else we’ve been obsessed with in this week’s And Then We Tried Obsessions.

Fence Updates and Two-Panel Wood Driveway Gate Plans

Hellooooo, I’m thinking about fences again! You all had the pleasure of following along as I moved and rebuilt the fence in my backyard and then converted a chainlink fence into a wood fence along my driveway, and now it’s finally time to build that driveway gate. Of course, I can’t just build a driveway gate and leave it at that, I’ve also decided to cap the entire fence to cover up the dogear pickets and give everything a cleaner and more finished look. HOORAY!