New Life For This Old Vanity Bench

I recently completed transforming this antique vanity bench from this:

To this:

I loved this bench the instant I saw it. It cost me $8 at an estate sale. The wood structure of the bench was sound, but the cushion was n-a-s-t-y.

THE PROCESS

First, I removed the cushion with a screwdriver and thoroughly cleaned the wood structure of the bench with TSP. I decided to re-use the piece of plywood for the base of the cushion, which involved removing about five million staples.

Each morning for about a week, I spent ~30 minutes removing those pesky staples. That was not fun.

The fabric and stuffing from the old cushion was disgusting and smelly, so I didn’t re-use any of it.

Once cleaned and dried, I lightly sanded the piece using a 220 sanding sponge.

Sanding roughs up the top layer of finish and years of oil and dirt to prepare the surface for priming and painting.

Then I went over the bench with a tack cloth and inserted some Q-tips in the screw holes so that they wouldn’t get filled up with paint.

My husband thought this was brilliant and asked where I learned how to do it. “All by myself,” I replied. 

That was a proud moment for me.

I also taped off the brass feet, which were in great condition and boasted a pretty patina.

Then came the primer. I love this step. The old smell is gone. And the canvas is blank. Primer is a beautiful thing, and it’s necessary to use on wood that has never been painted.

I have used both Kilz and Zinsser. I find that Kilz is a bit grittier than Zinsser, but seems to provide slightly better coverage. A light sanding with a 220 sanding sponge takes care of the grit.

I chose Krylon Raspberry Gloss to paint the bench. Isn’t it a fun pop of color?

True story: after painting the final coat, my son awakened from his nap and we sat down at the table to have a snack. It was sunny and dry outside and then suddenly began pouring rain! I rushed outside to get the bench and was dismayed to see water drops and paint runs everywhere. The next day I lightly sanded it again and re-painted the final coat. That added time and frustration to the project, but my son got a kick out of it for days. 

I opted to glaze the bench to maintain it’s antique feel. I followed the same glazing technique that I used to complete my first ever furniture makeover here.

My final step to seal the paint was to apply a thin coat of wax. I use SC Johnson Paste Wax – it’s such a pretty sheen and soft look.

Here’s a closeup of the final finish after glazing and waxing:

I found some really pretty upholstery fabric on sale in the remnant section of my go-to fabric store in Austin and thought it would go perfectly with the Raspberry Gloss paint.

For the new cushion, I stopped at my favorite bedding store, Austin Natural Mattress. We buy all of our mattresses and toppers here and I wanted to see if they had any display pieces or extras that they didn’t mind parting with.

I got a nice remnant of 3-inch memory foam for next to nothing. Memory foam doesn’t host dust mites or other nasty’s, so a quick spray of Lysol and it was ready to use.

I don’t have any photos wrapping the fabric around the foam, because it took two people and four hands! However, I followed Brooke’s tutorial over at All Things Thrifty here. All I can say is that this step was really, really hard!

Project Cost Breakdown:

–Antique Vanity Bench: $8

–Sanding sponges and primer: already had

–Krylon spray paint in Raspberry Gloss: $4

–Fabric for new cushion: $7

–Memory foam: $0

Total project cost: $19

Here’s a reminder of the before and after of my delightful new bench!

Tags: antique furniture makeover, Around Mi Casa, Around My Home, Melanie Bolke, spray-painting wood furniture, vanity bench