1. Pick crates you are going to use. You need the ones that hold hanging file folders because your seat will sit on these rails. I was able to get these for about $3.50 each from Walmart.
2. Bring crates to Home Depot, Lowe's etc. Ask the really nice wood cutter to select appropriate thickness of plywood and cut them to fit into the hole. I have to admit, I really lucked out with the gentleman I got at Lowe's; he was WONDERFUL! He worked really hard to get me as many seats as possible out of the plywood and cut them perfectly. AND he didn't charge me to cut it once he found out I was using them for a classroom, which sometimes they do! The sheet of plywood I purchased was a little less than $25 and I was able to get 9 pieces for seats (plus 3 smaller boards...I'm sure I'll think of something to do with them!)
3. Place wood on top of foam and trace around the wood. I found buying an eggcrate (for a mattress) from Walmart was much cheaper than buying foam by the yard. I bought a full size eggcrate and it did the 9 boards with enough extra to do at least 3 more (and still give a bunch of scraps to my 8 year old daughter who was ecstatic!). I think the full size was about $11. The downside to this is now-a-days they like to make their eggcrate all fancy so I had to be creative with my cutting to ensure that it was all the same for a single crate. So I have some crates that have foam with wavy lines, some with circles, etc., but it's all the same for that single crate.
4. Cut out foam.
5. Cut and Iron fabric. (Sorry about the fabric change, I took pictures at two different times and was working on different crates each time.)
6. Lay fabric on table wrong side up.
7. Lay foam on top of fabric, wavy side up. You can kind of see from this picture the very far side of the foam is different. Make sure this doesn't happen. I actually "staged" this picture as I forgot to get pictures of every step, so this is not a seat that I actually used. It was purely for documentation.
8. Lay wood on foam. If one side of the wood is nicer than the other, put the nice side up.
9. Start stapling. First, I like to pick one of the shorter sides, then pull the fabric up and staple right in the middle of the board.
10. Go to the corner, and pull fabric to the side (sort of like you are wrapping a present).
11. Pull fabric up, in two parts and staple.
12. Continue around the board until all sides are done. Tack down any fabric that needs to be pulled tighter.
13. Cut ribbon for handles.
14. Staple ribbon for handles.
15. Viola! Your crate seat is finished! You'll notice the back doesn't look grand.
Being a perfectionist, at first that bothered me and I was going to cover a thin piece of wood and attach it to the bottom so it looked pretty - and then I was like, you know...this is something you can just let go of...so I did. No one is going to see the bottom, and really WHO CARES?! Ok...I do a little...but I really am going to let it go!
Here are the 9 different crate seats I made. The fish are for my classroom. The rainbow wavy stripes are for my daughter's room (they complement her peace and love sheet set, the fabric was actually pillow cases I cut up!). The motorcycle one is for my son's room. He'll get curtains to match, and my classroom will get fish curtains to match!
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