A sunny new face

We had an outdoor wedding, on a pond at sunset.  My mom made my dress. There was a horse and carriage to take us to the reception.  It was perfect.  As luck would have it a friend of the family made the "pews" for our event.  As a wonderful wedding present he was kind enough to give us one.  That was seven and a half years ago.  Since then he (the bench, not the friend of the family) has sat outside in the baking sun, awful humidity, and frigid winters.  He has been nibbled on by termites, sat on by dozens of people and climbed all over by two kiddos and a dog.  He's seen better days.  


I sentimentally view this bench as a symbol of our marriage (beautiful, solid, comfortable, and impossible to move) and since we don't look all worn and faded. I decided he needed a make over.  


This is what he looked like before.  Well...after Justin helped me wedge the cardboard under his feet.  He is a monster to move.

.......Sad I know.  




So I chipped off the loose bark on his feet and primed him up.....four times....with Kilz Stainblocker.  

I let that dry...mostly...but I'm impatient and wanted to finished the main part before the boys got up from nap so I painted him with 2 coats of Weather All Latex paint in Tawny Port.  

As you can see he was still on his protective cardboard when I snapped this.  Those have since gone away. 

Cost break down:  A quart of Weather All paint in Tawny Port - $12.00 ish...Justin isn't sure.

A quart of Kilz Stainblocker - Free left over from an earlier project.

So for about $12.00 our sad weathered bench got a sunny makeover.  Here is the happy new face of our house.  I'm a happy camper.