Magazine Rack Upcycle

I found this vintage magazine rack/side table on Kijiji for $15 and thought it might work for a piano bench.  We have a very old piano and when we bought it there was no stool or bench to go with it. I had hoped to find something to match, but it just wasn’t happening, so I decided to go for a completely different look.  At the time both kids were taking piano lessons, so I thought that the slots on both ends would serve as great storage for their piano books.

Original Magazine Rack/Side Table

original magazine rack

The original piece had been painted with a pebbled finish, so I had to strip the entire table.

stripped table

stripped tableThe stripped piece was not in great shape and it would have been way too much work to restore it for a stained finish.  I gave it a thorough sanding in preparation for paint.

Upcyled Magazine Table

The height of the table worked perfectly for a piano bench.  I taped off a small rectangle on each side of the magazine rack and painted the interior of the rectangle with homemade black chalkboard paint. I then used some decorative molding to make a little picture type frame for each side of the unit and nailed it around the little chalkboard rectangle on each end of the unit. I then taped off the chalkboard (for protection) and primed and painted the rest of the piece white, including the frames around the chalkboard.  I cut an old piece of board into a rectangle that was slightly smaller than the existing top of the table.  I added a piece of three inch foam and some fabric that I bought specifically for this project.  I stretched the fabric over the top and sides and staple gunned the fabric to the bottom of the board, creating a smooth upolstered look.  I then screwed the completed seat onto the top of the existing table from the bottom and up into the wood base of the new seat.  We added a white wicker basket for extra storage, the kid’s names on either end of the new bench and their piano books into the corresponding slot.

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