Wooden Bench

Do you enjoy your yard and or your garden but wish you could add a little something to make it more inviting? You have planted all the right plants, placed trees and rocks in just the place, but it's still missing something. With the financial situation most of us are in it's hard to think of putting anymore money into the looks of your home.

Well, what if I told you that you can add some real charm to your special haven for not much more than it costs to grab that cup of coffee on the way to lunch everyday? If you are into wood working at all you can build a cute wooden garden bench, the exact bench that you want. You can do this for just the price of lumber, wood screws, and paint or stain. If you build it yourself, it will probably run you between $25.00 and $100.00 depending on size and design. If you are crafty but not into wood working, watch thrift stores and yard sales. You can pick up a real nifty bench for under $20.00 add some paint to reflect your personal taste, and you'll have a great addition and a real conversation piece. Now if money isn't a big deal to you, you can go to one of the big box stores, Home Depot, Wal-Mart or OSH for example and pick from a variety of wooden benches that you don't have to do anything to. Just take it home and put it in place.

I have taken this a step further inside my home. I have the cutest little rustic wooden bench in my entry way that I picked up at a yard sale for $10.00, the paint was peeling and a board was loose. I replaced all the nails with wood screws for extra stability, I flaked off the loose pieces of paint and then coated the whole bench with a thick clear varnish, it's rustic, stable and completely unique. Everyone who comes in my home rave about how it "just makes the whole entryway". I have had people offer me over $100.00 for my bench which has a total investment of $30.00 and about an hour and a half time.

My second bench project that I think turned out the best and is the most unique is an old piano bench that was actually out in front of a house with a sign that said free, from the looks of it, the bench had been there for a while. I brought it home and put it in my garage, still not sure as to what I wanted to do with it. I sanded it down, took me about 2 hours. The wood was good quality, but not very pretty. I replaced the hinges. After a couple of days of looking at it, it hit me... red, with black legs. so I bought a good quality paint, a pint of red and a couple spray cans of black. First I sprayed the legs then sprayed the inside of the storage part black. I used the shinny red lacquer on the rest of the wooden bench. It looked great. I carried it into the guest bathroom. Yes, it changed the look of my plain old dull white bathroom.

This antique wooden storage bench actually changed the look so much it inspired an amazing transformation. I ran to the local Wal-mart and purchased 4 red towels, and 1 red hand towel plus a red washcloth I bought the same number of towels, hand towels and wash cloth in black. While I was there I ran back to the hardware section and grabbed new black handles for my cupboards. Oh I was on a spree now, went back over to the housewares and linens and got a black shower curtain and red lace outer curtain, and of course back to the hardware for black hooks. I hit the check out and stayed under my $60.00 budget. (You gotta love Wal-mart rollback and clearance prices!)

On the drive home,I was excited, actually inspired. I'm not a very crafty person, nor am I artistic... but I had a picture in my mind. Once home, I washed all the new towels to soften and freshen them up. While they were washing, I pulled down the old blue fish shower curtain that had more than served it's time and purpose. I replaced it with the new black and red curtains. Screwed the black hooks into the walls and placed the red tie backs on the hooks. It was looking great already. I removed all the old handles and installed my new black handles. I brought a couple plants from the sun porch in and placed them around the bathroom. Threw the new towels in the dryer and grabbed a sandwich. I have never been so anxious for the dryer to buzz. At last, the buzzer sounds. I grab my new towels, fold three red and three black in half longways and then roll them, placed them in the bench. Oh too cute, one red, one black, red, black... okay, you get the picture. Then on the towel rack, I hand one towel of each color folded longways over the rack then layer a hand towel and wash cloth over them, alternating the color. Wow. It is a whole new bathroom. And to think it all started with a free, dirty, old piano bench!

So as you can see for a very low cost you can give any room in the house or any garden or yard new life by just adding a wooden bench or wooden park bench or perhaps some wooden garden benches of your choice. You will get compliments from family and friends, I promise!