Before I get started, I’ll tell you a little secret. . . I love junk! Hand-me-downs, antiques, garage sale and thrift store items, etc. I love it because I have a knack for turning one person’s junk into my own treasure. The best example to show you how I turn trash into treasure is by sharing with you how I turned this old, broken headboard {trash}
into this cute little foyer bench {treasure}!
First, let me give you the story behind this trash to treasure. This was my hubby’s bed as a child. It was broken into several pieces and was collecting dust and cobwebs in the shed at my in-laws’. It was going to be tossed to the curb until I claimed it for myself because I had a vision of what to do with it. So, being the little scavenger that I am, I loaded it up in the car and hauled it home. Now I had a piece of trash
great headboard in the garage begging to be rescued!
great headboard in the garage begging to be rescued!
Here is how I did it.
First, I sanded all the pieces well to rough it up for painting. I used a mid-grade grit for this because I wanted to remove the varnish. It scratched the wood a little, but I’ve learned from my experience that the paint will fill in the scratches.
Next I primed all the pieces with water based primer.
This is where I turned it over to the hubs.
I told him what I wanted and he purchased a 2×4 piece of wood and a deck board. The 2×4 was cut into four pieces and the deck board into three. He did some sawing, some rearranging, some screwing and some gluing to create this. . .
The entire bench was created from the headboard with the exception of two 2x4s which attached the front of the bench to the back of the bench. The other wood is used below. At this point, I put two good coats of paint {Olympic Irish Cream}on the bench and deck boards.
The deck board was used for the seat.
The other two pieces of the 2×4 were attached under the first to hold the boards in place.
I then sanded random areas of the bench, allowing the wood to show through to give the bench an aged, distressed look.
When I was finished, I couldn’t have been happier! It was exactly what I had wanted!
I’m so glad I had a vision, rescued and brought back to life an old broken headboard. I am using it as a bench for my foyer. Now my boys {I have two} have somewhere to sit to put on their shoes! Not to mention a piece of hubby’s past!
I hope you’ve enjoyed my trash to treasure idea today!