Project of a different sort, storage bin seats

I never know what I am going to be asked to make.  My daughter is a school teacher and she saw this idea on Pinterest that she wanted me to make for her classroom.  They are storage bins with seats on the top so that they can be used in a reading center.  She showed me a picture and asked if I thought I could make them.  They didn't look too difficult, so I got started right away, as usual.  I bought the storage crates first.  She wanted four of them and asked for black. I luckily found some of the crates after checking in just two stores.  They are very popular around the beginning of school, but they have not been placed in the stores yet for that purpose.  I was happy to see that they had black because she is not found of bold colors like the crates often come in.  Unfortunately, they only had four crates.  Three were black, but the other was white.  I thought that might work because black and white go well together.  However, I knew that Cheryl would not like that three were black and only one white.  She would have been happy to have had two black and two white, so I was worried.  I bought the four anyway because that is all that they had.  I knew that I had one crate at home, but I couldn't remember what color it was.  I was really happy when I found out that it was black.  Now, I had four black crates with which to make the seats.

I looked around to find some wood to use for the seats.  I found an old shelf that would be perfect for two of them.  I found some thinner board that I wasn't happy with, but thought might work.  I knew it would be strong enough, but what I didn't know is that it would be too flexible and would not hold up along the inside lip that it needed to sit on.  I had to go to the store to get another board that would fit for the other two seats.  I found the perfect width, but just had to cut the length for them.  My son helped me cut the first four pieces, but my husband helped me cut the two new ones that replaced the thinner board that I tried to use first.

Next, I went through my material stash to find something to make covers with.  I found three pieces big enough for the four seats that I thought might work.  I had Cheryl pick the one she liked.  I'm glad she picked the one she did because it was a stretch knit material and worked perfectly for what I wanted to do to cover the boards.  First thing I had to do for the seats was to make pillowed cushions with a material that I knew would not be to her liking.  I stuffed the cushions and glued them to the top of the seat.  Then, I cut out a smaller black material for the back of the cover and a larger piece of the cover material.  I put in pleats around the edges so that the top would fit the back and be able to slip over the cushioned board, sort of like a pillowcase.  I left one end open so that I could slip the cushioned board into the cover.  Then, I stretched the end to cover the whole board and used a staple gun to hold it in place.  Before I could slip the cushioned board into the cover, I realized that the corners of the board would be too sharp and tear the material, so I got my husbands jig saw and cut off the corners and then sanded them so they would be smooth.  It worked really well and I was able to stretch the material tight without causing any holes.

I feel the project was a success that really didn't take that long to do.  It actually took me longer to get all the tools I needed to do the project than it did to actually do it.  If I had known everything I needed when I started, I could have saved time.  However, I often do not know what I'm going to need until I need it.

This is what the seat looks like from the side.  You can see the storage area below the cushion.

This is a top view of the four together sort of how they would be in a reading center, but probably with a table in the middle.