Pinterest for the win!

An Instagram friend made a post about building a safety bench for her fireplace hearth. I had been "pinteresting" the idea but hadn't pulled the trigger yet - I was using the highly effective "pillows in front of brick and hope for the best" method. Her post and the fact that Juniper was officially crawling and trying to pull up (and whose main goal in life was to crawl to the fireplace and knock pillows down, then try to stand up! Super safe!) made me bite the bullet and get this thing built! (What's up with my gun analogies today?!) 

First measure the height, width, and depth of you're fireplace hearth. I didn't bother building the ends because we have two chairs and I don't plan on Juniper being on the sides of the fireplace. 

Take those measurements to Home Depot and have some ply wood cut to size! They had a huge sheet on sale for $9.25. 

Head to JoAnns Fabric (after printing all of their coupons off line - including a 60% off of any item, 50% off fabric, & whatever else you can get!) 

Here I found 2 yards of brown fleece material - on sale for 9$/yard

I found my filler/batting for $24.99- but 60% off. Let's say $10 because math. 

I also purchased spray adhesive here for 3.99. 

I saved a little on the project because we already own a staple gun, I just had to buy staples for 7$. If you don't have a staple gun already you will need to add that into expenses! We also already had a drill and screws. 

(My handy pink tool kit I've had for 11 years that Chris complains about but hasn't replaced :) 

Now a lot of tutorials say to use wood glue and glue the wood first while

propping it up at the 90 degree angle and  clamp it overnight then screw the next day - but nobody's got time fo' that. I skipped the glue and went straight to drilling. 

Actually drilling into plywood kind of sucks, so thanks babe :) 

I then added my padding and spray adhesive. For best stick spray a little as you go, and spray your wood and fabric.  

I do regret using batting instead of say a foam mattress topper. When the dogs ruin this one I will re-do differently! 

Lay the fabric down on the ground and make sure smooth and straight. Put your newly built hearth cover in center, padding face down, and pull fabric tight around each side, using staple gun to secure every few inches. I think staple guns are fun. I stapled, a lot. 

My fireplace is 6' long. Two yards of fabric fit perfectly with a tight stretch. Just a reference when deciding how much to get. More is best! 

This only took me about 20 minutes total of actually putting together and I only spent around $52. I don't play. I get shit done. ☺️

Wah-lah! Safety and non-ghetto looking. Win win.  Juniper immediately crawled over and tried to pull up and I was 82% less worried. Also ... She CRAWLED over. She's been crawling for a couple of days now, so right around 8.5 months !!! My teeny baby!!