Chair Cushion Using Sponges From Packaging Boxes

I had been thinking for ideas to do a new Instructable for some time now and a bit ashamed to say it - to enter a contest! Having said that this one I stumbled on more out of necessity more than anything else - I would say it was right timed, right place type of thing.

Working from home is great as commute would be a very stressful affair most mornings before lockdowns. However, sitting in front of a computer is not the most comfortable thing in the world unless your workstations if ergonomic which mines is not. Work did provide me with a computer chair, but this has soon started feeling uncomfortable too, mainly because it was being overused. At workplace I tend to move about most of the day and carrying out my tasks and away from the office and computer. Anyway, what this has meant is that my nice new chair over the months of use has lost some of it 'comfiness' and I had also been looking to set up a study space in the kitchen for some allotted time away from the work computer to dedicate to personal and professional development (maybe complete those Instructable classes I have enrolled to for more than a year!). While a cushion might have done the same job a, couple of years ago I did some spring cleaning and threw mine away with the intention of replacing them with new ones after I buy a new sofa - which is not going to happen anytime soon! so this is when I came across some boxes with what I discovered had sponges in them. By the looks of it they are boxes used to transport computer hard disks which need a bit of extra padding to protect them. You can see this from picture one below. There seems to be enough of them for me to make a nice cushion to use in both my work desk and study space. While you might not be as lucky as me with this find you should check around the house or work for any type of sponges or similar material that can serve as base material for this project. Also, if, like me, you attend a few conferences/exhibitions every year you might have accumulated a bunch of tote bags from all those giveaways and goodies and exhibitions give out. So, you can use one of them too to save it going in the trash or using other material that can be used for some other project in the future. If you have used pillowcases, they might also work for this and if you work with cloth and similar material you will already have spare bits to make use of. TIP: if you have a sewing machine, you could attach a zip to the opening side of the bag to make the cushion more presentable, mine looks functional but is very comfy!

If you don't have a tote bag or something that
can be used in its place, then you should ask around one of your friends or family member will definitely have one from a random conference.

I feel that I have taken the whole Instructable with the introduction but hopefully it has given an idea and enough information for you to freeroll / freeform / be creative from here on the steps are pretty rudimentary and the ones I did, some slight changes here and there you can end up with a very pretty cushion for yourself.

Supplies vary - I used:

- Tote bag

- Sponges

Get all your materials in one place. If you are using a tote back like me check how big it is and how the sponges could fit in. If you like you can turn the bag inside out or leave it as is if you like the graphic / not bothered about it.

Stuff the sponges in the tote bag as best you can being careful not to create and big bumps. It should be as uniform as possible but small bumps will be inevitable. While it will vary on your material it should be even and not too lumpy.

With the bag all stuffed you just need to tie the straps together like shown. Again depending on your material this might not work or if you decide to attach a zip to make this a more permanent fitting in your home.

That's pretty much it for steps. Just to conclude that if you don't need a cushion for your chair it could work for something else e.g. like a headrest when doing yoga.

Let me know if you have any comments or other feedback.