So, normally I am the one in our marriage who will stop the car in a heartbeat because I see a piece of furniture on the side of the road for free. I love to find treasures that just need a little love and can be turned in to a pretty piece of furniture. But, when we moved in, my husband was dropping off the uhaul truck and near their storage units he saw a pile of trash-basically just furniture that people don’t want from their storage units. It’s a brilliant concept, people are cleaning out their storage and realizing they don’t want some of their furniture anymore so there’s a designated spot that you can leave it. Next time you are looking for some free furniture to upcycle, head to your nearest uhaul storage units! So while he was there he found these two park benches and brought them home. I think a little of me is rubbing off on him haha! 

They were in pretty rough shape, and one was actually pretty bad that I just threw it away and only kept one. 

This is what the bench looked like when he picked it up. The first thing I did was sand it down and then take it apart. 

The bottom was pretty rotted, so I sanded it as much as possible and then used two fresh pieces of wood to hold the bench portion together. 

I screwed the new pieces of wood on to the bottom of the bench.

I also spray painted the legs black. Stained the wood with Early American stain. Then coated it with some polyurethane. When that dried, I screwed it all back together again. It was a pretty quick job, and free-double bonus! This bench may end up in our guest room, but for now it’s in the perfect spot in our family room. I bought the cute little Illinois pillow while in Michigan at The Found Cottage.