Painting and Upholstering A Doll's Bedroom Bench

       What a big difference a little paint and fabric can make. It's was so easy to transform this little wooden bench into something bright and cheerful for a doll's bedroom. 

       I chose to cover my doll's bench in blue and orange. Blue and orange are complimentary colors. This means they are opposite of each other on the color wheel. Decorating your doll's rooms according to particular color wheel combinations will ensure that your color choices are tasteful combinations. Many interior decorators use color wheel combinations to design aesthetically pleasing rooms.

• Visit my Art Education Daily blog to view color wheel graphics.
• The Color Wheel
• Color Theory 101: Making Complementary Colors Work for You

Supply List:

• cardboard
• paint for the bench
• a small wooden bench (from resale)
• hot glue gun and hot glue
• just a bit of fabric 
• felt scraps
• clear acrylic sealer
• typing paper (for pattern)

Step-by-Step Directions:

1. Clean the bench with a mild dish soap and set it in the sunshine to dry.
2. Sand the surfaces of the bench lightly so that an additional paint will adhere to it's surface.
3. Dust the bench before painting it with any color you prefer. I chose to paint mine with a pale blue color.
4. After the paint dries you could rub down that sides with a bit of clear acrylic sealer. However, do not put any of this where you intend to glue upholstered pieces. 
5. Cut a paper pattern of both the seat and the interior back where there will be upholstering. You can do this by measuring these areas. If you have a fancier rounded cut bench like mine, simply press the typing paper along the edges of your bench in order to transfer the shape onto the paper.
6. Now cut out the transferred design where the creases are. Fit these paper patterns to the frame of the bench exactly before cutting out the cardboard template to match.
7. Cut identical felt pieces to glue directly on top of the cardboard templates. Glue these onto the cardboard and let them dry.
8. Now turn the fabric with it's right side down on top of a table. (The finished side of any fabric is called it's 'right side.') Place your cardboard pieces with their felt sides facing down on top of this fabric. Cut around the templates leaving 1/2 inch of excess fabric to all sides so that this may be folded over the edges of the cardboard and glued in place.
9. Use hot glue to firmly fold the upholstered fabrics around the edges. Try to work as neatly as possible. Although, no one will see the backsides of either cardboard pad, too much excess fabric will make you project a bit lumpy when done.
10. Trim away excess fabric on the backsides of the upholstered cardboard templates.
11. Now hot glue the cardboard templates onto the wooden bench.