Well operation trash to treasure went well this weekend. A year ago I bought four sets of headboards/ footboards for $12.00. One of them ended up on my front porch. One ended up as a gift for a friend.
The one that ended up being mine is partially assembled here. The others are in the background.
The last two have been hanging around the garage ever since. The double bed one was a mid century teak veneer headboard that had a broken leg and the twin set was mostly that not real wood, you know the stuff…sawdust and glue with contact paper on top covering it all, except the four bedposts which were cannon ball style solid wood spindles. It was the grossest piece of junk in the garage. Mold was even growing on the swollen wood like substance. Mr. Math has seriously asked to get rid of that particular set more than any other piece in the garage. I just kept thinking inspiration would strike.
Finally, it came to me…marry the best of both sets to make one bench.
The bench is going on our lake house front porch . It is going to be a functional seat to put on or take off shoes. No bells, no whistles, no arms… Just painted wood with stained slats for seats.
I came up with the idea of using the bed posts in the moldy set upside down as the legs of the mid century set. The curvy legs add to the straight lines and cutting the footboard in half horizontally allowed more of them to show.
I decided to do slats for two reasons; I like the way the stained slats look and leaving little gaps between them will allow for rain and dirt to fall through. Here they are all cut, sanded and ready for stain. Minwax Jacobean stain is my go-to stain for a dark color.
After staining this collection of mismatched boards from the scrap pile looks more uniform.
If you know me, then you know the steps to getting paint on a piece. Sand the flat places, use liquid deglosser on the curves and gooves, prime it all with Zinser primer.
I feel like I say this a lot lately but seriously, the weather is just not my friend right now. Here are photos of the 90% completed bench. I SOOOO very much wanted it to be out on the porch when the realtor showed up, but alas, no luck with the weather allowing me to finish.
Here are the photos of the bench all put together. There are two boards that need painting and it needs a good coat of Poly before going on the porch. This bench out of bits and parts will probably end up being one the most used benches we own. I am going to make rolling crated to go under it for shoes.
I would love hearing from you.
Have a great day,
Karen
