A Blue Garden Bench

June 15, 2009

I love free stuff.  Even if I don’t want it of need it, if it’s free, it delights me.  So imagine my glee when I saw a really nice garden bench just hanging out beside the dumpster at my neighborhood pool house.  And right beside the nice garden bench was another bench!  I told Dameian to pull over, stat, I needed those benches.

Is it dumpster diving if you don’t actually dive into the dumpster?

Sure, the paint was peeling off the garden bench.  Yep, the wooden bench had a broken leg.  But I could already see them all fixed up and shining in my house.  After three cans of Krylon spray paint in Bahama Sea (Doesn’t that name make you sigh?), here is my new garden bench:

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Check out those spider mums, over two weeks old!  Those flowers last forever.

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And here is my garden bench before the makeover:

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I spent three hours scraping paint…

Dameian says my makeover projects are like a play.

Act One: Wow, look at that!  That would look perfect in the house!  I’ll just clean it, paint it, refinish it, fix it, rebuild it, love it, and cherish it forever.

Act Two: Oh my God.  This project is never ending.  My back hurts.  My head hurts. My hands hurt.  I hate fixing things up.

Act Three: Wow, look at that!  I LOVE it!  I’m so proud of myself.  Lets go look at it again.  Lets take pictures of it.  Don’t you love it?  I love it!

Metamorphosis Monday

Garden Party

Junk Party

Hooked On Houses

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{ 5 trackbacks }

Hooked on Victory Gardens « Hooked on Houses
June 21, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Ashley’s Busy » Blog Archive » My Garden Bench Was a Hit
July 8, 2009 at 9:01 am
Ashley’s Busy » Blog Archive » A Revamped Bench
July 19, 2009 at 5:39 pm
To Do List: Dining Chair Makeover
September 27, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Garden Party Round-Up!
November 8, 2009 at 3:17 pm

{ 39 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Shelia June 15, 2009 at 8:53 am

Oh, Dear One – what vision you have! Your bench is beautiful! I love the paint color you chose! Lovely lovely and the flowers are too!
be a sweetie,
Shelia ;)

2 Joan@anythinggoeshere June 15, 2009 at 10:25 am

No, it’s not dumpster diving….it’s “dumpster besiding”. What ever it’s called, you done good. Pretty redo color, too!

3 Brandie June 15, 2009 at 12:17 pm

I want to see the other bench….but this bench is very bright and cheery! I LOVE that blue!

4 Ashley June 15, 2009 at 2:06 pm

I haven’t done the other bench yet. D still has to fix the leg for me. I plan on painting it white and putting it in the living room somewhere.

5 Marie June 15, 2009 at 2:19 pm

Oh my – what a fabulous bench! Love anything turquoise.

Blessings,
Marie

6 Lori E June 15, 2009 at 2:26 pm

I say dive away if you want it. It’s all about being green right. You are saving the planet one dumpster dive at a time.
Besides it’s only dumpster diving if someone sees you.
You did a good job on the redo.

7 Kim June 15, 2009 at 3:30 pm

It’s Beautiful! I love the color! You always find great things! I think I need to come down and go hunting with you!

8 Anna June 15, 2009 at 5:17 pm

I love that color!

9 Tricia Anne June 15, 2009 at 5:35 pm

Oh my goodness! I really like your color choice for your “new” bench. What a great find and what a fantastic job you did! Plus the pillows look adorable on the bench. :o)
Sincerely ~ Tricia Anne

10 Lorna~Lace and Ivy Cottage~ June 15, 2009 at 8:43 pm

Hahaha! Thanks for the great laugh! You sound so much like me. I love freebies too and as I sit here typing my hands are covered in paint from a freebie I’m working on and tired because it took a lot longer than I had anticipated. But in the end, I love it. I love your benches too. I would have rescued them as well!

11 Laura Ingalls Gunn June 15, 2009 at 8:55 pm

What a perfect shade of blue!

12 Mary June 16, 2009 at 2:37 am

I love your found furniture, the redo looks terrific! :O) Mary @Boogieboard Cottage

13 Shelly Turner June 16, 2009 at 7:27 am

Great color! Great rescue! It looks fabulous!

14 astrid June 16, 2009 at 8:52 am

What an awesome find…and I love the makeover you gave it!

15 deidra June 16, 2009 at 9:39 am

Oh my Lord, that’s a great bench! I’m headed to the dumpsters!

16 Roeshel June 16, 2009 at 10:05 am

I love it! You did a great job! It’s soooo pretty!

17 Amanda June 16, 2009 at 10:52 am

Love your free bench! The paint color you chose is fabulous!

18 stephanie June 16, 2009 at 11:26 am

Oh wow! What a find!! Love the final result!

19 melissa @ the inspired room June 16, 2009 at 1:05 pm

WOW! That bench is AMAZING! I love the blue!

20 Christina June 16, 2009 at 4:02 pm

That bench is one fabulous freebie. What a fantastic color. Wow!

21 Nissa June 16, 2009 at 6:01 pm

You did a fantastic job! So cute!

22 ~~Rhonda June 16, 2009 at 10:37 pm

A beautiful bench. I love love love the color! ~~Rhonda

23 anna see June 16, 2009 at 11:38 pm

Great job! I love dumpster diving, too, even if I don’t actually go in a dumpster! That blue is lovely.

24 JanMary, N Ireland June 17, 2009 at 11:20 am

What a find!

Love the deep shade of blue.

25 Kim June 17, 2009 at 2:10 pm

It’s fabulicious!!!! I love the color. And yes, the name takes me to another place. Wish I were there. I am so amazed at what people throw out. And I had to laugh at your explanation of the different acts of your play. Too funny!!!

26 Kimm at Reinvented June 17, 2009 at 2:17 pm

Wow! I had to laugh at your three Act play, it sounds just like the dramas at my house! :)
LOVE THAT BENCH!

27 Jill June 17, 2009 at 5:29 pm

Love, love, love it!

28 Alicia June 17, 2009 at 7:40 pm

I scrolled to look at pictures before reading and I actually did sigh and say ooooh, look at that great shade of paint. Then laughed after reading what you wrote. The acts of your play are rehearsed here with every new project. My boyfriend always asks me how much of his time and talent each new acquirement is going to cost. I can’t help it that he has all of the power tools. Thanks for the smiles and enjoy your benches.

29 Kimba June 18, 2009 at 11:06 am

Oh my gosh! I love it! I’ve been trying to find a bench for my back porch for months. I would have totally wrestled you for that one.

It’s gorgeous!
Kimba

30 Evy @ Greens & Crafts June 18, 2009 at 5:06 pm

I totally love your bench! Such a beautiful color, and it really compliments your whole porch – good job!

31 Kennesha June 18, 2009 at 5:09 pm

This is so lovely and FREE! OMG! I laughed so hard at your “play”…I think we have that in common! As a matter of fact, I am there now with a cabinet I am refinishing…act two all the way! Arrrgggh…anyhow,thanks for linking up to the Junk Party!

32 Carol @ Old Glory Cottage June 18, 2009 at 5:10 pm

Hi, this is my first time Junk Partying! Wow, that garden bench turned out fabulous, and you picked a really great color too! I agree about the spider mums, they last forever, and carnations too!

33 a woman who is June 19, 2009 at 3:35 am

Totally worth the effort…I have lived your act two many times :)

34 Claudia@DipityRoad June 19, 2009 at 10:57 am

YES!!! lovein that bench– maybe i could come borrow… steal.. never mind its very nice.

(:) you may want to put a chain around the leg, someone might get the borrow idea too!

TTFN~~Claudia

35 Angela @ImagineCozy June 21, 2009 at 12:09 am

What a beautiful transformation! I love the color blue that you chose, it really works.

36 Jane June 21, 2009 at 12:31 am

That’s a sweet story and a Sweeeeet bench! I love to take pictures of my finished projects too! (Helps me forget the hassles before hand!)

37 Julie June 25, 2009 at 11:16 am

I always see people online that get free stuff and I NEVER see free things on the side of the road! (Ok, I have, but it’s things like broken stuffed chairs, or right now the old guy across the street has this HUGE metal “thing” I don’t even know what the heck it is!)

38 Jennifer Allwood June 25, 2009 at 4:54 pm

Very impressive turquoise bench! Love, love, love the color. I did a post on turquoise once!!!!! I need to get gutsy and use it outdoors!

39 Jeanne @ Inspiring Ideas June 25, 2009 at 11:15 pm

Yes! Yes! I do love it!! Way cool find AND transformation!!

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