New Old Furniture for Your Living, Dining and Bedrooms

Ya' know, my Danley can do just about anything and everything. He either learned how by taking classes or through the necessity of being able to do it when he had no resources to hire someone else to do it for him.

Years ago when Stan got out of college, he went to work for a well-respected construction company in Manhattan, Ks. Through the couple of years that he worked for them, he learned a great deal of how to do this and how to do that. In 1981, he married me! From then on, Daddy taught him the other things in construction, plumbing, electrical, etc that he will probably ever need to know. In the 29 years that we have been married, we only spent one year living in a rental house. For the other 28 years, we have only lived in the 4 years that we have purchased. I'd never want to live anywhere again except for in homes that we own.

In all but one of those homes, Stan did a considerable amount of construction work. In each of those 4 houses, Stan has done everything except for put in central heat and air and some electrical work that he was uncomfortable with in doing himself.

Well, we do a considerable amount of entertaining family and friends in our home. We don't always have ample enough amounts of furniture to seat everyone. So, Stan came up with another one of his ideas that make me very proud and appreciative! He decided to take 3 heavy kitchen chairs and convert them into 1 bench. Depending on your needs and wants, you could choose to use 2, 4 or more kitchen chairs for your own project.

Stan placed all three wooden chairs together and bolted one to the next. It is extremely sturdy. There was only one little problem. Given the fact that 3 chairs put together meant that there were also 3 seperate chair seats. Now, depending on the amount of people who will be sitting on this bench, they may find themselves sitting on the areas between two of the seats. Not exactly what most people would consider to be comfy.

So, Stan is going to take all three seats off of the new bench. He will be replacing them with one sheet of plywood cut to fit the bench. His parents, John and Joyce Bennett-Blau, taught him everything that he knows about the fine art of furniture upholstery. He is going to be putting thick foam on the plywood. Then, he will cover that with a beautiful piece of fabric. Wella! We'll have a brand new bench--sort of.

Of course, you could accomplish building a bench by using brand-new chairs that are blemish-free. But, we redid our kitchen last Winter in a Tuscan theme. Tuscany is a VERY old country. To this day, houses that are hundreds of years old are still been used today. That is part of the beauty of Tuscany styled homes and furniture. You do not want them to look new and perfect. Stan used some old chairs that were given to us awhile ago. They have places in them that are well worn. But if you are using chairs that are "too new" for your liking, do what furniture makers do today to make new look old. I've seen people "beat" the furniture with chains, take knifes or screw drivers and put holes and deep scratches in the new wood. After you do that all over the piece, you are ready for the paint and polyurethane (varnish). Just make sure that you do not abuse the piece too much. It still needs to be completely functional. And, most people don't like the look of out and out junk. Sometimes, there is a very fine line between what looks great and what looks horrible.

This afternoon, I moved the bench to the front porch where I just completed applying the first coat of paint. I will be applying one more coat after this coat is cured. After that is dry, I will be rolling on polyurethane which will accomplish two things. 1. It will add extra protection against scratches, stains, etc. 2. In our case, I am going to use high gloss poly which will produce a beautiful shiny glow to this new piece of furniture. You can also use satin finish polyurethane. It still produces a shine but is not TOO shiny. In my case, I prefer to paint and varnish this furniture BEFORE Stan puts on the new fabric.

One thing that I have learned over the years is to just have fun whenever you are working on a project such as this! Do what you want to do. Try not to be too perfect if you are trying to go for the aged look. How many antiques do you normally see that are totally flawless just as they were when they were "first born"?

Once you have finished your new bench, you can use it anywhere in any room that you want. For instance in our case, our bench will normally "live" under our kitchen bar that seperates our kitchen from our dining room. Leighlyn and Abigayle are planning on sitting on it while they do their homework on the bar. It will be available there for extra people when they are eating at our house. It can be pulled into our living room whenever extra seating is needed there. Other people might be interested in placing a bench at the foot of their bed. They could sit on it to dress, put on or take off shoes, etc.

We are only limited by our individual imaginations in what we do.

One of these days, my sister, Lori, is going to teach me how to add pictures to my blog so that you can see whatever it is that I am talking about. In the meantime, if you want to see it, come on by! You may want to call me first to make sure that I am home. 620-375-4584 or 376-8922.

VLE-B