Redesigning an Old Bench Into a Stylish Gold Beauty

This bench in front of our house was definitely dumpster worthy in the eyes of most, but with a little attention it came back to life with a new spin. The metal on the grid in the middle and the sides was an ugly mix of green and dark gray, and the wood had been painted a bright pink long ago and remnants of it were left behind.  Just a little time, paint, a pretty vintage looking stencil and some creativity and you can transform all kinds of things. I was on such a roll I decided to redesign the matching wagon that had been next to the bench and painted an old fairy statue to go along with the antique gold theme. 

Step 1: Materials

-An old bench
-Rust-oleum metallic gold spray paint, $4.24 at Home Depot
-Americana Classic brocade and berry borders stencil, $2.98 st Home Depot
-leftover white paint that I had, if you don't save leftover bits of paint like I do I would check out the oops paint area of your local paint store or Home Depot for a cheap white or cream
-A medium and small sized paint brush
-Cardboard box or newspaper to protect the ground where you paint, and a piece of newspaper for stenciling

So in total this project cost me a little over $7 to revive a piece of furniture that could have easily been thrown in the trash...

Step 2: Prep and Spray Paint

First I scraped off the old flaky pink paint on the wood as much as I could with a butter knife, and then I gave it a good washing with the hose to dislodge old shrub debris in the crevasses on both sides.  Next I moved it over to an easier area to work in for painting and placed cardboard boxes under the legs of the bench on both sides. For spray painting the metal you could wear gloves and a  face mask if you want; I gave all the metal you could see a good once and twice over with the metallic gold spray paint. 

Step 3: Painting the Wood

Next I painted all the wood white with a medium sized brush and a small brush for the areas close to the metal. At first I was going to paint all the wood a solid color but as I started painting I liked the effect of leaving some of the wood showing in streaks still, it gave it more of an old vintage feeling I think. 

Step 4: Adding the Stencil Design

For stenciling on the wood I tore out a square inside a piece of newspaper the size of my design, you could use scissors of course but I was too lazy to go get some, in order to keep the paint from going where I didn't want it. I thought of a pattern I wanted and just started stenciling away with the spray paint.  

Step 5: Finishing Touches and Enjoy

With a small paintbrush I went around and fixed up the mistake spots of gold on the white wood, and for areas I got white paint on the gold metal I sprayed a little puddle of the gold spray paint on some newspaper and used the small paintbrush again to fix 'em up. I also gave it a coat of clear sealer gloss but this is optional. Then I painted a small wagon with wildflower seeds in it and a fairy statue to match. Hope my project gave you some ideas on how to reuse old items you have lying around and give them new life without having to force them to actually look "new" (*^.^)