no lack of lacks

Next up on our extreme balcony makeover is the L-shaped bench that we created for the outdoor seating. Being the tricky people that we are, we decided to use tables to make a bench. Three tables, in fact.  We went to IKEA and bought the LACK side table, times three. At $7.99 a piece, they were easy on the budget.

Now you might be thinking, is a side table from IKEA really sturdy enough to be used as seating? And the answer, my friends, is yes. I have a couple of these tables in my classroom and have sat on them many times with nary a wobble. 

We assembled the tables but three together took up too much space on the balcony. So we decided to work with two at a time and come back to the L-shapped portion later on. 

We then took the tables up to the roof, where I sprayed the tops with spray adhesive to attach a 2 inch thick foam pad (previously cut to size).

The adhesive didn't work too well, but we decided that since we were stapling fabric around the "bench," the staples could hold the foam in place.

I used a thick cotton material that I had laying around (read: free) to cover the cushion. Since three sides of the bench would be hidden, I didn't worry about visible staples and just folded and stapled the fabric around the outside of the bench (except for the front).

Next on our to-do was the third part of the bench, which we wanted to be longer and skinner than the LACK piece.  Fortune was on our side yet again, and we had a board that was the perfect length and width. Since we wanted the bench to looks as seamless as possible, we attached the legs from our third LACK to the board. This was done by my handy husband in six easy steps:

1. Measure where the holes are in the existing table legs.
2. Trace around the legs onto the corners of the board.
3. Measure where to drill a hole into the board (based on previous measurements of legs).
4.  Drill hole
5. Attach leg to board.
6. Reinforce each leg with a second screw. Nick drilled the second screw further inside from the first one, so that he wouldn't split the wood by drilling too close to the edge.
Because the board is longer and the legs are farther apart, we will likely reinforce this board at some point so that it doesn't start to bend in the middle.

We had scraps of foam from various other projects so I layered a 1 inch thick piece on top of a 2 inch thick piece to create a cushy (and tall enough seat). Next, I stapled the remaining fabric around this bench (following the same method outlined above).
Then we put the two benches together in the corner of our balcony.

This was another low-cost project, since we had a number of the materials on hand:
3 Ikea LACK tabes: $24
1 piece of foam cut to size: $33
Fabric: already owned, free
Board: already owned, free
Pillows: taken from around our home, free

Total cost: $57

Obviously this is where we spent the most of our $113 budget, but since it is the major piece of furniture on the balcony, it was well worth it.

We may change the fabric sometime in the future, to something a little less florally... Annnd I need to get rid of the clutter we stashed under the bench (we are still trying to find the least conspicuous spot for Henry's little box).
However, it's definitely an improvement over the yikes-inducing before!