The benches went from brown to red.

First.

Let me preface this post.

I have 2 teenage kids living at home, not a bunch of toddlers, and they are in public school during the day.

I am not working at the moment.

My husband is on his way home from his travels, but he isn't here.

I have time to play at the moment.

If my life was in it's normal state of chaos, I wouldn't be getting this stuff done.

Whew! Done with that.

These are the cute little benches that I picked up on Saturday.

One of them is probably a One Butt Bench.

The other a Two Skinny Butt Bench.

Probably more appropriate for an extra seat outside while visiting, or holding a flower pot.

Cute regardless.

I did that Home Depot run today and I found the sander in the garage. It was a really good day. I even found sanding discs out there. Right next to the sander. Somedays life is just amazing. I didn't sand them bare, but there were plenty of paint peeling spots so I scrubbed those clean (as in with an electric whirling device) and roughly sanded the rest of the bench.

For years I have been a fan of plain old craft paint that you buy at the local craft store or WalMart. I pitched all mine when we packed (I'm telling you ... we pitched big time.) so I have nothing other than water color paints around here. Home Depot does sell these little test paint jars. Have them tinted to whatever color you choose and for $2.94 I had a little jar of Roasted Pepper tinted paint.

On to painting the benches. The day was cloudy to start with so felt downright nice. By this point, the sun was getting a wee bit toasty. At least the sweat indicator was broadly hinting at heat.

There is something about this warm and dry climate. Paint dries lickety split. Wasn't long and I was on to sanding and roughing up the paint. Makes little sense if you really think about it, but it's what I did.

I also found a little can of stain in the garage. Hubby has been working on projects as well and is accumulating things. I rubbed some stain on the benches.

Then on to polyurethane. This time I tried something different. I don't know if I like it or not yet, but I bought a spray can of poly. I was ready to pass out by the time I was done, but they got sprayed. I think it was faster than brushing or sponging it on ... and my work area was rather well ventilated. Being as Waste Not Want Anyway Not is my motto, I'll use up the spray can. Not sure I'll buy another one.

The benches are still sitting outside this evening. They stink. Big Time. I think one of them will live out there all the time and the other is coming inside. I'll see what I find to perch on top of it.

Now, just so you know.
Had I not gone to that yard sale on Saturday, I would have survived just fine.
I would have occasionally gone to look at a wood crafting website and dreamed of making something like these. (I still would like longer benches suitable for maybe Three Butts.)
Then I would have moved on to something else.
Ten years from now I'd still be doing the same thing.
It really wouldn't have made a difference in my life.
However, I did go that sale ... and I think the benches turned out rather cute!

And ... I got a job today so this precious play time of mine is going to be dwindling real soon. Makes them even cuter!