Bench Love

I mentioned in a previous post how much I love benches. I've got several. They're different but share one similarity: each started its life as a coffee table. True story.

The first bench is in our living room. That's my baby girl Gracie working on her geography in homeschool.

I love that detail in the middle of the table. All I did here was paint the legs black.

 

 

There are two coffee table-turned benches in the dining room.  The one at the table was originally wood that I painted black and had hubby add wheels to.

 

I painted the bench years ago, before I knew about priming wood before painting. A newbie error that I've never got around to correcting. We had a friend over for dinner once who thought that I'd painted the bench then sanded a portion off to give it that weathered look. Yeah, let's go with that.

 



 

This table turned bench will be our focus today. It was also wood painted black, but with flat paint instead of semi-gloss as that's all I had at the time. It's home to a pillow and cat bed, both of which are in abundance at Casa Nichols.

 

 

 

I got a wild hair tonight and decided to cover it with the wall hanging that lost its home after the entry-way makeover. The colors work in the room and it's nearly the perfect size.



Thanks for your help, Simon.

I plan to finish it off with batting and upholstery tacks. A quick tip: if you need upholstery tacks and your funds are low, skip the fabric store. I got these at Lowe's for around $2 a pack and each pack contains 25 tacks. Various finishes and styles are available. I chose an antiqued finish.

 

This bench re-do is part of a larger project: I also plan to re-upholster the head chairs at the dining room table. I'll post pictures when I'm done with the entire project. Thanks for reading!



Wow. Just wow.

I appreciate the vision it takes to transform a routine or discarded item into a work of household art.  I'm really grateful when the craftsperson shares their project. It gives newbies like me hope that we can do something similar and proves that style and taste are distinctly personal.

Occasionally during my forays through the DIY and decorating haven of the web, I come across a project that leaves me speechless, in the 'I would've NEVER thought of that'  way.

Look what I found this morning.

Shut.your.mouth. 

Picture these all spray painted black, with the open end of the crates facing up, the seat hinged (so that it could open and close) and covered with a toile fabric. Instant hidden storage. 

Mercy.

Or, perhaps the open part of the crates could face forward. There would still be storage, but you wouldn't have to open the seat to get to your items.

Beautiful project, unfortunately, I don't have the space or need for another bench. I've already got three, all homemade. I'll share those in a later post.


Here's another item I found by the same person.

The window next to the fireplace in my living room has a ledge my husband built for the cats, who love to sit high and survey what's happening in the side yard. Simon and Max would love to watch the birds feed, drink and bathe out of this.  Samantha doesn't use that ledge.

Looks simple enough: lighting fixture, dishes, spray paint. I'd modify it a bit. I'd hang the chandy off an 8 foot shepherd's hook.  I'll also paint it a different color. I'd skip the crystals.


Not sure when I'll get around to it, but I'll post it when I do.

I found both projects on 'Trash Find Redesigned' on Facebook. Go check them out.