Painted Deacons Bench

Hi, there sweet friends!  I hope you're enjoying your summer so far.  

I plan to finish a few projects while my kiddo is away at camp. She is training to be a camp counselor in a very challenging but fun program.  One of the projects I am tackling today is painting the deacon's bench.  This project has been on my mind for a while and today I am finally taking the plunge.

I wanted to see how the deacon bench would look on the front stoop.  I placed it against the siding of the house. A perfect fit, however, I did not like how all the cracks, dings and chips showed in the sunlight.  I thought a fresh coat of paint would do the trick to bring this precious piece out of its tired state.  I gathered my paints and supplies and went to town to give it a paint-lift.  { a face-lift for furniture}.  Here it is before the paint-lift.  At first, I felt guilty covering up the original stain. After it was painted I was happy with the results.

Here is what I used for the paint-lift.

 First I filled in the long crack with wood filler, wiped the bench off of any dust and then painted.

I experimented with a Tintable Sample Deep Base paint (eggshell) from Sherwin Williams.
It's a great price and goes a long way!

YIKES!
This is what it looked like after it dried.....Not very pretty right??  I nearly freaked out until I did the next step......
MIXING  a paint sample jar of Valspar latex paint called Satinado a MINTY GREEN to the base paint.  This did the trick and I started to feel happy again.
To protect the paint from the rain I sealed it with a protective finish.
I used Minwax Polycrylic clear gloss.


HERE IT IS AFTER THE PAINT-LIFT

ALL DRESSED UP AND READY FOR SUMMER!

You can still see the crack but not as noticeable.

Thank you to those who stopped by for a visit to my
Hooray for summer home tour- living room.  It made my day reading all your lovely comments!
 Here is the link for anyone who might have missed it...


WISHING YOU AND YOUR FAMILY A SAFE AND FUN FILLED FOURTH OF JULY!!