To many people, seating at the foot of a bed isn’t an obvious need. Anyone who needs to sit, they feel, could always use the bed. Footboard seating, though, has been a design touch favored by interior decorators for centuries. It can be a place to throw your clothes on or to sit without rumpling the sheets. If the idea of footboard seating appeals to you, here are 10 DIY footboard bench ideas to try.
1. Turn old chairs into a bench
Photo credit: pinterest
Old chairs can easily be repurposed to make a bench. The idea is to turn three separate seats into one long seat. You don’t need to call in an upholsterer. As long as the chairs are the same height, rigidly tying them together with rope should do the trick they should function as if they were one.
2. Pick up an old church pew
Used church furniture for the home is a trend now. You can either find a church pew on sale at a local church that’s redecorating or simply buy online at a used church furniture store. Once you get your pew, a coat of paint should get it ready for its new home at the foot of your bed.
A pew at home can make for an interesting effect, both surprising and amusing those who see it.
3. A coffee table bench
Photo credit: instagram
If you have an old coffee table, it should be easy to repurpose it into a footboard bench. Adding cushions is an easy enough to make it usable. Getting an upholsterer is another idea.
4. Cut a bathtub in half
Photo credit: pinterest
It’s easy to find old bathtubs most neighborhoods have a few homes renovating at any given time. Since bathtubs are usually made of fiberglass, they can easily be cut with a saw. With a partial cut on one side, the cavity of the tub will turn into seating space.
With cushions placed inside, you’ll have quirky seat that’s a lot of fun.
5. A tire bench
Photo credit: pinterest
You’ll need to get your hands on an old truck tire for this project. Slicing the tire across in half, place a section of plywood on the cut part and fix it in place with epoxy. When the whole construction is painted a bright, attractive color, you’ll have a fun rocking bench to place at the end of your bed.
6. A simple bench decorated with scrap wood
If you look in your basement, you will probably find old pieces of furniture and other wooden articles that you have no use for. Rather than throw them out, you can use pieces from each article to decorate a bench with a patchwork.
Get little, square pieces from different articles, arrange them on a simple bench and glue them in place. To make sure that you don’t have too much work making the patchwork fit perfectly together, consider using an overlay of clear plastic.
7. A refrigerator bench
Photo credit: pinterest
Turning a refrigerator into a bench doesn’t take too much skill: you won’t be building anything you will only be cutting existing prats away. Cut one side of an old fridge away using a circular saw fitted with a metal-cutter blade. With heavy cushions placed in the cavity of the appliance, you’ll have a quick, quirky bench ready in no time
8. A headboard as a footboard bench
Photo credit: pinterest
A headboard from an old bed can make a beautiful back for a bench. You need to either learn a few basic carpentry skills to put the rest of the bench together or call in a carpenter. Either way, you’ll end up with unusually luxurious seating.
9. A log bench
Photo credit: pinterest
If you can find a large tree trunk section, you’ll need to do little more than plop it down at the foot of your bed for perfect, rustic bedroom seating.
Getting a heavy 6-foot tree trunk section into your house, though, could be a problem. If you can manage it, it’ll instantly add a great deal of character to your home.
10. A simple stone bench
If your bedroom floor will take the weight, building a bench out of stones is an easy project that needs minimal skill. You only need to stack a few stones, set them with a bit of mortar and then place a length of the granite on top. The results are guaranteed to be classy.
