Whilst we are waiting for major parts to arrive from the UK and waiting for the weather to cool down so that we can paint, we decided to make a start reupholstering some parts of the interior.

The cubby box is relatively straightforward to cover, although it is a little fiddly, and it's tricky to decide what to do and figure out how to do seams that look professional. The first step was to trace out the vinyl from the old template, and cut it out.

Then it was a simple matter of stretching it around the old box and stapling into place. We did try quite hard to meet the edges in the middle and sew them, but with our inexpertise it was impossible to get the vinyl taut and the stitch exactly symmetrical or even in a straight line. By this time we were a little exasperated and decided we'd buy one instead. Time's money, after all. However, a quick google reaffirmed our fears - for a decent looking one, they are around 700 bucks in Australia! Ouch.

Back to the sewing table it was.

We then thought we'd put a panel of fabric to cover the gap where we'd attempted the poor central seam. My idea was to do a diamond patterned panel, so I marked it oversize to the shape and drew lines on with a ruler and chalk.

I was extremely pleased to find a demim needle, whereby you stitch two lines of thread at once, with a double needle. To make sure it was straight, I had decided to sew with the foot on the left edge of each line. I loved the green as well, as the car will be eventually green and it was something different.

However, at this point disaster ensued - the needle broke. Given it was an hour round trip to town to get a new needle, I thought maybe a zig zag stitch would look good. Very non traditional, but still a bold line of stitching for the diamonds.

After a few hiccups with the sewing machine, two panels were completed.

Then it was a matter of folding over the edges for a neat hem, and pressing them together with some contact adhesive. Both the bottom and the top panel were then stapled to the cubby box. Jamie had already spray painted the cup holder and the cardboard lining of the old box with a black rattle can, and these simply slid into place, and the lining stapled.

We were very pleased with the top - whilst the old cubby box had barely any foam to speak of, this has been done with the foam from an old camp pillow! It's very good quality memory foam and raises the arm rest to what we imagine to be a more comfortable height.

All in all, we're thrilled with the look and by the responses we got on social media, every one was pretty impressed with our efforts!! Now we just have to build the rest of the car around it.