Taking It Out on a Bench

I had a little bit of a rough day today. The typical methods of licking my wounds include drinking, eating, or laying in a comatose state until something good comes on TV. However, today I decided to try a new method and take it out on a bench.

When my sister-in-law sold her house we helped her move. She was in a giving mood that day and offered me her tired outdoor bench.  It was covered in peeling stain... and spiders. While I feel like I never have time to fix something like this up, my hoarder self took over (as usual) and I scooped it up. It has been sitting in my barage (basement/garage) for about a year but it has been on mind as the weather has turned to summer.

In the midst of my crying my husband suggested that I lay down and I said no, I might as well get something done. So I sauntered to the barage and dug the damn thing out from under the pile of artwork that had been stacked on top. I grabbed my little hand sander and started sanding my little heart out. Surprisingly, the stain came off easily and it smoothed right up. While I am usually a very frustrated worker, as in I start something and I get tired so I just give it up and never return, today I jammed it.  I sanded that thing until it looked pretty good (sorry I don't have any before photos).

I primed it and it is now sitting there happily drying.

This post doesn't really fit the bill of the normal post here. However, I thought I would share because the time spent on this was intensely therapeutic.  As I cried into my primer I started to feel better. And this is another fantastic, and unexpected, example of why home projects are the greatest.

Don't judge the mess behind this bench. We are in the midst of spring cleaning the barage and it's super out of control