Knock-Off Wood

After two friends of mine referred me to a great furniture design blog, Knock-Off Wood, I decided to check it out for a bench I've been wanting for our entryway. After finding this plan, I got right to work convincing Adam that we needed to get to work! :) And so we did...

And by the next day we had this!

Then, last Saturday morning it was seriously the prettiest day of the season so far with upper 70's and I spent every bit of it outside. First step was distressing the bench. This was not part of the original "knock-off" plan, but I like that look and I wanted it to match our front door with the same distressed look and stain. I have never used a chain before, but my sister told me once that chains are the best and wouldn't you know, I happened to have one lying around! I also used a hammer and nail for little worm holes, a screwdriver that I just raked down the board a few times and a sharp edged piece of hardware that I just dropped in random spots to dent up the board really good.
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Then I used the same polystain that we used for our door and applied with a sponge brush in one hand and an American flag in the other. My two-year-old kept asking me to hold it and yell, "American Flag! American Flag!" Ha ha. And so I did. :)

And here's what we have to show for it! I could not be happier! We bought a few things at the store when we purchased the lumber, so I'm not exactly sure how much it all cost but the whole bench was probably around $25.00.

Now, I have to rearrange that wall a bit behind it. Maybe with a bunch of pictures or mirrors I think.

Wow. That was rude.

Man. I am so sorry about that. So, apparently when you don't have the internet for 2 weeks you aren't able to use the internet to tell people you don't have the internet. Well, at least you get things done around the house when you don't have a blog to keep up with. Here's a pictoral update of what we've been up to.

I'm also not to proud to post my "not so pretty" areas. There's a garage sale pile in the corner of the sitting room, the hallway in all it's glory and let's not even mention the dresser in the bedroom. Yes, I've heard of photoshop, but this is real life people! :)

In answering a few questions of some commenters:

1. Our living room color is Croissant by Sherwin Williams. Love it and we get a lot of compliments on it.

2. Lady in Arkansas renovating a house- we did in fact go over some existing flooring with the concrete, but we pulled up some vinyl parquet tiles before that and laid down some plywood and some metal screen before the concrete was poured. I'll be in touch. :)