Diving

No, this is not a swimming post.

It's about another kind of diving.

The dumpster variety.

Every night, Corey and I go for a walk. Every night Sometimes, we happen by the dumpster at the back of a local thrift store. I'm not naming any names, but I will give you a hint. It starts with a G, ends with a L and has oodwil in the middle.

Every day, they fill up their dumpster with stuff that hasn't sold or that is not good enough to put out in the store.

I pick up things there frequently, if I see them peeking over the top...or calling my name.

This last weekend, I purposely drug Corey through the alley we happened by the dumpster only to view the cutest little piano bench that you ever did see, sitting, looking ever so sad right next to the dumpster.

I'd been looking for a cute little table to put on my front porch and images of this little bench with flower pots on it instantly came to mind.

We said "Oooohhh!", rushed right over and lovingly picked it right up. Since my husband was totally on board with this he carefully tucked it under his arm and carried it all the way home.

Ok, so I'm totally lying.

It went more like this:

Me: "Oooohhh!"

Him: "You have got to be kidding me."

Me: "Please!" (batting my eyelashes at him and turning on the womanly charm) Just look at the poor table, sitting on death row. I think we can rehabilitate her. She deserves a second chance."

Corey- "Sigh...." (This is the part where I received the lecture about bringing home things that we didn't really need and....yadda yadda yadda...blah blah blah... I'll spare you the details)

He then picked up the bench aka cute little porch table and carried it all the way home.

I just love it when I get my way.

I'm sure the bench considered herself as having received a stay of execution.

Little does she know that I have nine kids.

Otherwise, she might have wished to stay in the dumpster.

Here she is, sitting on the front porch waiting for a make over.

Please excuse the siding-pieces messy goodness going on in the background as I was too lazy to move it before taking a picture.

I can't help but wonder about the history of this bench. Was it actually used as a piano bench? I wonder how many people sat on the bench and played their hearts out.

I love thinking about it.

Just look at the cute little details on the legs...

Unfortunately, it had been damaged and someone had tried very unsuccessfully to fix it.

They had hammered a bunch of wavy little metal thingies into the bench.

That had to hurt...

And all the nails had split the wood in several places.

Plus, the hinges were missing parts.

First I had to unfix the "fix".

I removed all the nails that I could, took off the broken hinges, unattached the chain and ripped out the little wavy metal thingies.

Just look at all the stuff we removed from the victim.

I then took her apart and fixed the original boo-boo.

Wood glue and clamps were essential.

After it had dried, I reassembled the table and got ready to reattach the top.

Since I knew that we were not going to use it as a piano bench, and did not care if the top opened, I glued the top piece on with Liquid Nails.

I then screwed the piece on, just to make sure it wouldn't go anywhere.

I sunk the screws down just a bit and filled the holes in with Wood Filler.

When I realized that the scratches on the top were worse then my stretch marks, I took pity on "Benchie" and filled in the worst ones with more Wood Filler.

Wish I could do that with my stretch marks too...

One of my twins took "Benchie" out to the garage and sanded her down.

For some reason that almost sounds inappropriate but I assure you that it wasn't.

I then gave her a layer of primer.

Then on went several coats of Heirloom White by American Accents.

A little distressing and some glaze...

Let me clarify that I am an amateur. As in, I really don't know what I'm doing.

So, if you are a professional painter, this may be like food poisoning for your eyeballs.

Don't look too close.

Or, if you do, close one eye first.

Here she is...

Her legs still need a little bit of work.

And I almost feel like a hypocrite saying that.

They are just a bit wobbly and I'll have Corey even them up.

Ok...

One more picture of her reformed goodness...

Isn't she purdy?


I'm linking to these great parties for more love...