DIY Saves the Day

As I mentioned in my "The Not so Big Move" post, Clark and I will soon find ourselves in a new home.  With that of course, comes new space and ultimately the need for more furniture to fill that extra space.  One spot that we knew we had to fill was our new entry way.  For the first time, we will have a place with a designated entry way and I sure was not going to pass up the opportunity to decorate.  This past weekend, Clark and I drove down to Chicago so that we could stop in at a few stores we don't have here (Ikea, West Elm, etc.).  We searched everywhere for the perfect, rustic entry way bench.  Finally, we went into Home Goods and found it.. the perfect one.  It was a fantastic old church pew in a worn black color.  The detail carved into the wood was so incredible, even Clark was excited.  We got out our measuring tape, and that's when everything went wrong.  It was 9" too large for the space.  Devastating, I know.  The next day, after returning back to MKE, we went to a part of town that is full of antique and consignment stores.  Once again we found something perfect.  Although we had been looking for a bench, this really caught our eye.  It was four vintage movie theatre seats in teal.  They were amazing and would have been so unique.  Yet again, they were too big for the space.  At this point we gave up.  We drove to our last stop, Home Depot, to get some large storage bins for all of our junk.  We have a lot.  That is when I saw the pile of crates.  I stood there looking at them, Clark watching me like I was crazy, and suddenly it clicked.  I looked at Clark and said, "I can totally make something out of these.  I'm going to make our bench!"  Clark was not as thrilled as I was.  It could've been for several reasons: the packers game was about to begin and this shopping trip just got much longer, I don't actually build anything and therefore he would be building the bench while I supervised, or maybe it was just the fact that I come up with crazy ideas all the time and it usually doesn't end well.  So we walked around the store, and collected all of our materials.

After returning home, we turned on the game and began to build.  Well, Clark did.  I handed him the tools and cheered him on.. he is an engineer so I know secretly it's fun for him.  After he finished putting everything together, it was my turn to stain.  Let me point out one major flaw with what I just said: we put it together, and then stained.  Don't do that! If you decided to do a diy project, especially with crates, stain first, then build.  It took me forever to get in all of the little spots, and it's still no where near perfect.  However, I would like to say, it's not nearly as uneven as it appears in the pictures below...

After letting it dry over night, I set it up just how I wanted.  In our new place, it will have a designated spot, and a few more accents.  I am so pleased with how it turned out though, and think it is the perfect entry way bench.  It is rustic, unique, and great for extra storage.  Not to mention, nothing feels better than to say we made it ourselves.  Stay tuned, and see what it looks like with all of the extra touches in our new home!