telephone table DIY

When we moved into our house last year, we were starting from scratch as far as sourcing furniture was concerned. Aside from the basic storage in our daughter's room (wardrobe & chest of drawers), we haven't purchased anything for the purpose of storing her toys, save for a few baskets. Something that I have been mindful of as Ruby has got older and more mobile over the course of the year is that I want her to be able to independently access her toys, which means having them displayed at an age-appropriate height. John was willing to build some shelves which would work for this purpose, but then I spotted this old telephone table in a secondhand shop for £10, and knew that it would be perfect for our daughter's bedroom. The seat is just the right height for her to be able to pull herself up to standing, and it is sturdy enough that it won't topple on her as she puts her weight on it. The shelf underneath provides a great amount of space for a selection of toys for Ruby to access as she pleases.

I knew as soon as I saw the telephone table that I wanted to change the fabric on the seat. As you can see in the 'Before' photo, the original fabric was rather dull and tired, and a bit dirty too. I recently discovered the Dashwood Studios 'September Blue' line of fabric, and have plans to make some cushion covers for Ruby's room from a couple of the fabrics. I liked all of the designs in the September Blue range, so it was an easy choice to pick a fabric for the seat that would co-ordinate with the cushion covers (yet to be made).

This was an incredibly simple bit of DIY - all it required was unscrewing the cushion from the wood, cutting a piece of new fabric, stapling it over the existing cushion, then screwing it back together. In theory, I think I could have finished this in about twenty minutes. In practice, however, it took over two hours to complete, simply due to life with a baby.  I love the prospect of Ruby sitting on the forest of trees and birds, with her nose buried in a book, getting lost in the wonderful world of stories.