Bench Given a New Life
by
Wonderiris
4 Materials
I bought this bench years ago with the idea that it would fit on my front stoop perfectly. Unfortunately, I am a poor judge of size and, therefore, it didn't fit at all. It was too long. The first summer it sat outside beside the front stoop, and I can't recall if anyone ever sat on it. Winter was coming and so I moved it into the house - and there it stayed until we sold our house and was moving into a new one.
I almost didn't take the bench with me. I almost told my husband to put it out by the road and either let someone pick it up, or the trash guys would take it on trash day. Almost...but at the last minute I decided to take it to the new house. The new house had two areas in which the bench could go and, so, since the bench was cast iron I decided to take it with us.
The wood on the bench did not look good. I left the bench on the covered porch for months after we moved. Every time I went by it I would think, "I should have just trashed that!" But I didn't. Instead, one day I decided to try and see what it would take to make it look better. I cleaned the entire bench and using a steel brush scrubbed and scrubbed.
So even though I squirted the same amount of stain on each piece and rubbed it in, you can see from the picture that some pieces look more stained than others. I then coated each piece with three coats of Varathane Outdoor Finish in High Gloss. I wanted to make sure that the bench could handle the elements in case I failed to bring it in over the winter.
Some of the pieces look like stained glass...which I really like. I then used spray paint to paint the iron pieces. I used Rustoleum Oil-Rubbed Bronze. I am pleased with the end results. The bench matches my drink stand that I made out of my sewing stand perfectly.
I'm glad I decided to keep the bench. It works wonderfully at out new house on the deck.
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2 comments
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Your bench is beautiful. You really did a good on it and a lot of hard work. It really show it. I have two benches on my front porch. They are not design as pretty as yours. You have given me some ideas what to do with them. Thanks. Barbara B
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Wow! The bench looks awesome and so does the drink stand!! These are both wonderful and unique pieces.
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