Crate Seat Tutorial

Hello all you educators & DIY mommies! I'm sure you're like me and you've seen these seats all over Pinterest. After seeing them, I knew I wanted to make crate seats for my first classroom. Coincidentally they happened to be my first DIY project for my class and they turned out pretty darn good.

Although these seemed like a great idea and are extremely cute, I had no clue these would quickly become a very pricey project. This is not a project I would suggest you do if you are on a budget. It costs about $26 for me to make each seat.

Now for the tutorial... which is why you're actually reading this post.

Materials:

• 6 Sterilite file crates ($50)

• 1 large sheet of wood ($22)

• 3 yards of fabric ($18)

• Spray adhesive ($6)

• Staple gun ($30)

• Scissors

• 1 Sharpie

• Hammer (optional)

• 6 ft of foam padding ($30)

*All prices listed are estimates... rounded figures of what I actually paid.

Step 1:

Have a home improvement store (Home Depot, Lowes, etc) cut a large sheet of wood to fit snugly into your crate's opening.

Step 2:

Roll out your foam padding. Trace the outline of each piece of wood individually with a Sharpie onto the padding. Then cut each piece of foam you traced.

Step 3:

Glue your foam cut outs to the wood cut outs using spray adhesive. Let this dry for 20 minutes to an hour.
I forgot to take a picture of this step, so I had to take a picture of the last seat I made which I had to piece together using left over foam... sorry. 

Step 4:

Cover each of your cushions with half yard of your fabric. I suggest wrapping it similar to a how you wrap a present. Secure the fabric with plenty of staples using your staple gun. If staples don't go through completely just use a hammer to bang them in good.

Step Five: 

Place your covered cushion in the opening of the crate. 

That's it! It's really that simple. Happy crafting.