Pool Table Bench

I saw this pool table on the side of the road in a pile of discarded furniture and I thought I would bring it home, fix it up and have a really cool pool table to practice my trick shots. It turned out to be far too damaged to restore it, as the top was warped and really damaged beyond repair. So after it sat it my garage far a few weeks taking up space, my better half thought up the idea of turning it into a couple of benches and a table. Here is the first bench.

It was a pretty simple project, if you have an old discarded pool table to work with. All you need after that is some padding, a bit of fabric, paint and some reclaimed wood.

I don't really expect anyone to go out and find an old pool table and make this exact project, by I hope to inspire someone to see something as more than just a piece of garbage, but as the foundation for something new and stylish.

The first step is going to be to cut off both ends, which was a much trickier task than I had expected. I couldn't think of a better way to go about this than just the old fashioned hand saw all the way through. I'm not gonna lie, this took quite a bit of work. Once I got all the cutting done, I had three parts, two future benches and one future table.

I took one of the three parts to use as my bench. I cut a piece of pallet wood to the size of the front and used nails, screws and wood glue to attach it. Then I traced out the shapes that were on each side and used a jig saw to cut out these pieces, keeping the natural shape of a pool table.

I used a fence post that we already had out in the backyard to cut four legs to keep it off the ground while I worked on it. I liked the way they looked, so I decided to keep those legs on the back, and turn two front legs on the lathe. I used a big beam from a pallet to turn the legs. They were all attached simply by putting a long screw straight down from the top, then adding a couple of screws from the front and the sides. This kept them very tightly secured.

After a bit of trial and error, I decided to go with a flat black paint. It looked clean and did a great job of masking some of the dings and whatnot that existed in this old pool table. I put on two coats, and this thing was finally starting to come together.

Acquiring fabric ended up being the only expense in this project, but I found some that I liked in the 80% off area of the fabric store, so it was just a few bucks to get enough fabric for the job.

On the front piece, I cut out a piece big enough to have a bit of overhang at the top and bottom. I stapled the top in place, then flipped it over. I added spray adhesive to the fabric and the wood, then pressed it down nice and smooth to make sure there were no wrinkles. I added some staples to the bottom just to make sure it held tight while the adhesive set.

For the seat, I cut a piece of plywood slightly bigger than the top, so there would be a bit of an overhang at the front. Then I cut up some old bedding to the size of my plywood. The bedding went through a couple of cycles in the washing machine and came out really clean and fresh smelling. I simply stapled the fabric down on one end, then worked my way around the seat, making sure to pull it as tight as possible as I went.

To attach the seat to the bench, I needed someone to sit on it to keep it down some I could add some screws from the bottom. Obviously, make sure and use the right size screws so they won't poke through the wood into the seat.

That's all there is to it. A bunch of stuff that was going to be trash turned into this nice little bench.