Revamping an Old Favorite

Last year I jumped on the crate seat train and I just LOVED them- and even more importantly, the kids loved them.  We used them last year to keep our book bags out of the way and students really loved sitting on them to read. You can see a picture of them- unfinished- here.

Well, here are the pros and cons of my crate seats after one year of use:

Pros:

• Extra storage
• Extra seating
• Students loved them
• I used vinyl table cloth to cover the top-easy cleaning

Cons:

• I forgot to add a pull tab or some way for the students to lift up the seat without just grabbing the fabric.  Since I didn't add that, I had a lot of rips and tears in the cover.
• I used quilting batting that I had in my house and it wasn't very comfortable

So, I decided to revamp them for a new year!

These were the old tops- and my dog Emmett who wouldn't stop photo-bombing!

Here you can see some the tears in the fabric :(

I added some pre-cut foam from Hobby Lobby to the cushions.  They were $2 per piece and I made 4 seat crates.

Then, I cut my fabric and laid it out-

I realized that my staple gun was out of staples and I didn't know how to load it. After calling all my neighbors (they were at work), attempting to call my husband (he was on a work trip in Poland) and 20 minutes of googling- I figured it out!

Ta-daa! Seat crate (sorry about the bad lighting)! Notice the pull tab sticking up?

Another angle, and another photo bomb from the pup!

For the fabric I used an old shower curtain from Target.  I am a bit nervous because it is light colored but I already had it on hand and I love to reuse instead of buying something new.

That is it for my Monday Made It contribution.  I have been in my new classroom all day getting set up and things are starting to come together.  Head on over to 4th Grade Frolics to check out all the other fabulousness going on! :)