Restore Furniture and find new uses for old items

You can restore furniture back to like new condition. These photos shows and example of what I mean.

The garden bench shown in the photos was a recent project that we completed.

Notice in the photos that this garden bench has alot of detail on the cast iron ends. That is what made us want it.

You can purchase Beautiful Garden Benches at our Store

Here is the story. I received money for my birthday from my wonderful in laws. I wanted to do something with the money that would be memorable. My in laws are wonderful people.

My husband and I were at the local peddler's mall browsing around.

I love old stuff and truly enjoy shopping at Peddler's Malls looking for great treasures for my yard.

We slowly browsed through the entire building, and this place is huge!

But, all of the searching was worth it, because we found this garden bench. We saw a few items that we considered, but when we found the garden bench, the search was over.

Of course the photo to the right is what the bench looks like after we restored it.

When we found it, let's just say - we could see beyond the years of weathering and neglect.

Before and After Photos on the Restored Garden Bench

See the photo to see how it looked before.

The bench was structurally sound, but had rust and built up dirt on it. If you enjoy restoring old furniture that is not a big deal.

If the price is right - go for it. Just make sure that you get the project done quickly and enjoy it's new look and purpose.

The next two photos show the before and after of the back of bench.

Then see the photo of the bench from the same angle after we restored it to its current condition.

It restored garden bench looks great doesn't it?

We will add pavers under the feet and make a permanent location soon.

The next 2 photos show the back side of the bench beforeand after we restored the bench. As you can see there is a big difference in the look.

A little work made a big improvement.Any time you restore furniture the end result is worth it.

We got a good deal on the item and now, after restoring it, it is worth several hundred dollars. But to us it is priceless!

This piece of restored furniture it will never be for sale. I hope to keep passing it on down in the family - many years from now.

We have it on display in our front yard and it looks great.

And we have a great memory and story to tell about how we got it.

A few details about the bench.

Age unknown

length 4 feet

ends are made of cast iron - Very heavy

wood is teak or cedar 9 (not sure)

There was rust on the cast iron but the wood showed no signs of rot.

If you have an item that means something special to you, I urge you to restore it back to life and enjoy it for many years. Perhaps it is something that you inherited or it was a gift.

We have restored several pieces of furniture in our home that were being thrown away from job sites while my husband was in construction.

They all have new places in our home and are more special than something new would be.

We have a huge cabinet in our kitchen that was in very bad shape before when we restored it.

huge cabinet in our kitchen that was in very bad shape before when we restored it.

We also have a cabinet in our office that looks great, it was also in very bad condition.

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Back to the Garden Bench!

Would you like to know what we did to the garden bench to make it look new again?

Ok, here we go - let's restore furniture.

Considering some other furniture restoration projects we have tackled this one was quick and easy. Great for a beginner!

See the photos and the details become much clearer.

First of all, with any item you need to apply a new finish. That finish can be of your choice. Choose either paint or stain.

In order to apply the new finish the item needs to be cleaned.

You can see in these photos of the boards that there was alot of difference in the freshly sanded board and the unrestored board.

First things first-

The bench was completely dissambled.

We tossed the old screws in the trash, they were rusty and a few were stripped.

The wood slats were sanded to get all of the built up dirt off.

We used a drill with a wire brush attachment to clean the rust off of the cast iron ends of the bench. The cast iron ends were also cleaned.

The wood was then wiped down to remove any loose particles left from sanding.

We did not stain the wood, because it already had color. We choose to put clear satin finish spar unethane on it.

The wood was laid out on a table and given 2 coats of spar urethane (outdoor poly) on each side. See photo above center.

Allow plenty of dry time between coats. We let the wood slats dry over night each time.

The cast iron ends of the bench were spray painted with a rust resistant outdoor paint. We choose to stay with the original black color.

New screws and lock nuts were purchased to re assemble the garden bench.

We put everything back together and placed the item outside in our front yard.

As you can see from the last photo the restored furniture went back together ok.

We love the bench, and are proud to give it a new home in our landscaping.

Protect your investment

The rain just beads up and runs off of the wood. The bench should be good for many years.

Any outdoor furniture needs protection. It lasts much longer and looks new longer when stored in the winter. Or at least covered for protection.

We will store or cover this bench when the weather gets bad.

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