Thrift Store Bench Gets a Paint Makeover

I’m taking a detour from my series on my daughter’s room because I’ve been out of town the past two weeks and haven’t had a chance to do much in there.  Plus, after I was away last week while she was at home, there’s NO part of her room that looks tidy enough to photograph!  Next week! 🙂

I snagged a bench with Queen Anne legs at Goodwill several months ago, thinking it would look great at the foot of our bed, or even in the master sitting room under the window.  As often happens with my projects, the bench had to sit in the garage for a few months before I got to it!  Here’s what I started with and boy, was the fabric a special kind of 80’s hideous!

Sometimes it’s really hard for me to visualize what a piece of furniture (or even a room) will look like with a new coat of paint, but I had already painted a table and chair set from my parents’ house and I loved the way the look changed completely when I covered the dark cherry stain with flat white paint.

I started by removing the cushion, lightly sanding the wood, and then wiping it clean.  Note the high-tech workspace (aka the living room), complete with old beach towels as dropcloths and canned foods serving as pedestals. Oh, and the basket full of clean laundry in the background.  I need to learn to decorate my home with clean (and dirty) laundry baskets as they are ALWAYS around!

I used Behr’s Interior Flat Paint in their stock white:  Ultra Pure White.  I prefer a matte finish on furniture; not sure why.  I applied it with a brush and it took two coats.  And I can’t remember if I primed first or not this time, but I’m assuming that I didn’t.

I opted not to sand the legs to distress the piece this time, as we’re moving again next summer and I’ve found that the movers do a perfectly good job of distressing all my furniture for me!

I had some leftover canvas dropcloth from an earlier project and I do like the neutrality of the canvas, so I staple-gunned that onto the cushion.  Yes, I removed the 80’s fabric first!  At some point, I’d like to do a faux-grain sack/ feed sack treatment on the top of the bench, but I decided to wait since I couldn’t decide exactly what I wanted to put on it.

The bench is currently at the foot of our bed.  I dressed it up with a couple of throw pillows and a soft blanket.  The basket underneath is one that I did using Amy’s tutorial that you can read HERE.

That was one of the cheapest, easiest, and fastest projects I’ve done in a long time!

Thanks for stopping by!