Bench Before and After

I have always wanted a bench to go in my house. I would see them in thrift stores and they were either too damaged to fix myself or were too pricey for their condition. I always had a little bit of hope that someday I would find one that I could afford and that would not be too hard to repair, if it were a bit worn.

One Saturday morning on our usual hunting and gathering at our local Value Village, a lady was putting this bench out by her driveway. I saw her and I almost grabbed the steering wheel from my husband because I wanted him to stop so I could snatch it up. I was so upset that someone else might get there before we did, but fortunately, no one else saw it. (Excuse the mess in our workroom).

I asked the lady if I could take the bench and she said yes! I thanked her and we loaded it in the back of the truck. I was so thrilled and felt like a kid on Christmas morning! All of my patience finally paid off!

I knew I wanted to paint it a dark color, perhaps dark gray or black. I found this beautiful chalk paint by Kilz called Toasted Poppyseed at our local Wal-Mart. (I am in love with this color!)

I spent about a week painting my bench. The spindles were a bit of a pain but so much worth the work ( I now recommend using a quality round brush meant for detailed mouldings, trim, corbels, etc.) I also recommend using a quality water-based polyurethane (I use Minwax Water-Based Polycrylic Protective Finish Clear Matte on everything I paint.)

Here is the after photo: