Bar booth

One lovely day, I was surfin’ the Craigslist ads and came across old restaurant booths.  “OOO, LA, LA”, I thought to myself!  “I can do soooo much with those.”  I imagined a nice padded headboard, a long extra bench seat for our dining table, and extra seating for the living room.  I had to have them!  I called Ryan to give him the heads up.  “Honey, I found something.  Will you please call this number and set up a time to get these things?”  It’s kind of sad but I have a slight phobia of calling people from Craigslist.  It’s just awkward.  “Ummm, hello, I don’t know you but I want to buy your stuff.”  I’ll pass.  Ryan is great at it so I let him show off his skills.  So Ryan called, we borrowed a truck, and headed down to a bar in a not so reputable part of town.  I was quite worried about this whole set up.  See!  This is why Ryan has to call.  This person hears a vulnerable woman on the other end and who knows what could have happened!  So anyway, we are waiting on this guy to show up at his bar.  It is dark outside and suspicious characters are walking by and suddenly Ryan says “Let’s go inside and get a beer.”  My mouth drops.  “Are you freakin’ crazy?  We would get killed in there!”  Ryan laughs but I don’t think he was kidding.  Anyway, the guy finally shows up and takes us back to his storage building.  He tries to sell us 40 other things but we declined and paid $30 for each booth.  We are about to get back into the truck when the guy says to me “You look familiar, have you ever been to my bar?”  Without thinking, I blurt out “NOOOOOOO!!!!”  Oooops, I bet that wasn’t the best way to tell him I hadn’t been to his bar but I was completely embarrassed that he thought I may be a patron.  I really need to think before I talk sometimes.   Anyway, here is what we brought home.

 Sorry it's blurry, the picture was taken with my phone.

I wanted to work on the extra seating for the living room first.  I envisioned a burlap type material but wanted to find something softer.  I found this at Hobby Lobby and it was perfect.

I gathered my stapler, steam-a-seam, iron, scissors, and the fabric and got to work.

I laid the fabric across the back rest and measured about how long I needed and cut it off.  I begun stapling one side to the back of the booth and worked my way across the top and to the other side, making sure the fabric was tight and straight.  I then worked my way to the bottom half and then to the seat.  The seat was the hardest part.  I wasn’t sure how to make the sides look right but resorted to folding them and then using the iron-a-stitch to hold them down.  For the stripes, I used a fabric marker and some duct tape to keep my lines straight.  After I was done, I decided it needed a matching pillow.

 We had a few old pillows that we didn’t like anymore so I used the iron-a-stitch and iron-stitched three sides, shoved the pillow in, and iron-stitched it closed.  I was pretty pleased with my work, although the booth isn’t all that comfortable, it serves its purpose, and looks good doin’ it!

I'm sorry I don't have pictures during the process; I did this a few months ago and wasn't thinking I would some day have a blog.  I have another booth though and may do the same thing to it.  We will see!