Old Toy Bench Makeover

I'm sure you've heard people say "nothing beats free!" or "free is the best price". Well, I tend to agree with those people. We found this old toy box alongside the road while we were out walking one day. It had a "free" sign on it and I couldn't help but come back and load it into the back of my car. Of course, I'm not going to just grab anything with a free sign on it (come on, we've all seen the free toilets, alongside the road-No thank you!) but, when something has huge potential, like this toy box did, you can bet I'm all over it.

In our house, we have plenty of storage for toys so, I decided to turn this old toy box into a cute bench for our porch. This project was really very simple.


•Basically, I just sanded the dings out of it.
•Then I painted it. Let the paint dry and then painted it again. It actually got 3 coats of paint total.
•Lastly, I painted a clear coat of varnish over the bench. The varnish will help preserve the paint and help the paint to not chip.

The bench looked a little naked without a cushion so, I packed up the kids and we headed to JoAnn's to pick out some cute outdoor fabric. Turns out, they have a huge section of fabric that's specifically for outdoor furniture. I'm cheap so, I think they're fabric is pretty pricey but, if you have a coupon or it's on sale, you'll be good to go. I got my fabric for 50% off....and that makes this bench even prettier to me.

Honestly, I hardly know how to use my sewing machine but, making a pillow or a large cushion like this one, is one of the easiest things that you can sew. First, I literally prayed because, I have to pray before I sew-I'm just that bad at it, and then I sewed the cushion. It was super easy.

My brilliant sister came up with the idea for the buttons on the cushion and those were hand sewed on, once the cushion was finished.

So yes, it's true-some of the best things in life are free. 

Have a HAPPY day.

♥Angela

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