How We Transformed a Child’s Little Bench

My older daughter and I have a thing going.

When I go to Atlanta to visit her, we paint and shop and move things around.

When she comes to Dallas, we paint, shop and move things around.

When I was in Atlanta last April, we painted the armoire that I bought for her when she was 2 years old; it’s been in her dining room for 7 years. In July we went home decor outlet shopping. And we went antique mall shopping in January.

When she came to Dallas in last August, she helped me rearrange our living room bookshelves (for the 2nd time) before we made our first trip to Magnolia Market.

The first day she was here 2 weeks ago, we spent the entire afternoon rearranging our living room, which I love and I’ll share later.

And then we went to Waco to visit Magnolia Market and shop.

And then we started painting. A bench that had been sitting in my garage since  I bought it 3 years ago. The cutest little child’s bench that was navy blue. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of it then. I wasn’t thinking back then, but I did know I wanted it to look like a little girl’s bench since we had 1 little granddaughter. I already had some really cute fabric on hand (I’ve told her that I am a “fabric~olhic”) that I could use to make a cushion.

I used Annie Sloan Antoinette, which is the prettiest soft pink. Then I added some stencils and a flower.

I like the bench and I liked the cushion, but I didn’t like how that they looked together. The pink on the bench and the pinks in the cushion just didn’t look good together. So the bench sat in the garage for 3 years.

Now with another granddaughter who was almost 2, (by this time, the older one was almost 5 and too big) it was time to take another look at the bench. I tried some Annie Sloan Louis Blue, which is a soft light blue, to pick up the little bit of blue in the bear’s clothes. But we didn’t like it. So we opted for white ~ Annie Sloan Pure White.

Jenn and I decided to sand off the stencils and smooth some rough spots ~ don’t want anything rough touching that sweet baby skin. We were fortunate to have gorgeous weather (perfect spring weather, not hot, no breeze) so we took the table outside to paint ~ and we could watch the girls’ swim.

After 2 coats on the bottom side, swimming was over, so we took the table inside to paint the top. It’s always best to paint in the daylight.

The project went fast with 2 people painting. Since Jenn isn’t sure if the bench will be inside or outdoors, we didn’t wax it.

Now it was time to add the cushion.

I like this version so much better.

Here is the best picture of all!

That smile says it all.

Lilah’s 2nd birthday was 3 days away when she tried out her new bench.

How did she get it back to Atlanta? Jenn went to Lowe’s and bought the largest moving box she could find; we broke it down, added more cardboard and taped it up until the bench fit inside snugly. She had enough room to add clothes, toys, and extra diapers. Since she had not checked bags coming to Dallas, this box became her checked bag going home. Cost $0 ~ much better than shipping. She did the same thing last August when she painted a child’s desk that a friend gave her.

Lilah’s birthday party was on Saturday. The theme was a tea party and the bench was perfect to use for the little girls to sit on. It will now serve as seating for arts and crafts. By the way ~ that table came from Pottery barn and used to be red. What do you want to bet that it gets painted again?

Obviously, I can’t wait to see the bench again with Lilah in it. I’m so glad we repainted it. I’ve got several other paint and re~paint projects in the queue. So stay tuned to see what I’ll be sharing.