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:
Check out those spider mums, over two weeks old! Those flowers last forever.
And here is my garden bench before the makeover:
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!



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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 ;)
No, it’s not dumpster diving….it’s “dumpster besiding”. What ever it’s called, you done good. Pretty redo color, too!
I want to see the other bench….but this bench is very bright and cheery! I LOVE that blue!
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.
Oh my – what a fabulous bench! Love anything turquoise.
Blessings,
Marie
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.
It’s Beautiful! I love the color! You always find great things! I think I need to come down and go hunting with you!
I love that color!
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
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!
What a perfect shade of blue!
I love your found furniture, the redo looks terrific! :O) Mary @Boogieboard Cottage
Great color! Great rescue! It looks fabulous!
What an awesome find…and I love the makeover you gave it!
Oh my Lord, that’s a great bench! I’m headed to the dumpsters!
I love it! You did a great job! It’s soooo pretty!
Love your free bench! The paint color you chose is fabulous!
Oh wow! What a find!! Love the final result!
WOW! That bench is AMAZING! I love the blue!
That bench is one fabulous freebie. What a fantastic color. Wow!
You did a fantastic job! So cute!
A beautiful bench. I love love love the color! ~~Rhonda
Great job! I love dumpster diving, too, even if I don’t actually go in a dumpster! That blue is lovely.
What a find!
Love the deep shade of blue.
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!!!
Wow! I had to laugh at your three Act play, it sounds just like the dramas at my house! :)
LOVE THAT BENCH!
Love, love, love it!
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.
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
I totally love your bench! Such a beautiful color, and it really compliments your whole porch – good job!
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!
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!
Totally worth the effort…I have lived your act two many times :)
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
What a beautiful transformation! I love the color blue that you chose, it really works.
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!)
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!)
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!
Yes! Yes! I do love it!! Way cool find AND transformation!!