As I was painting up a couple things for the sale my mother brought me this little bench. It's little seat that would have been used for a vanity and it's design just happens to be my favourite; a waterfall piece. I always associate it to the 20's and 30's because it seems that any period movie from that time uses this design as a prop. Every time I see this design I always fall madly in like all over again. It's not many peoples favourite in the painting world but it sure is mine. So I took a little detour from projects and worked on it.
My aunt is moving and as someone who has lived in her house for years and years she has treasures lurking in dark places. Once upon a time my mother, her little brother and her parents also lived in this house, so there is a bit of a time capsule happening in her home.
The story about the bench and where it appeared from was a little foggy. My mother thinks my grandfather (my opa) had found it or possible acquired it as a cast off from someone.
The bench was found in the basement which had doubled as my opa's workshop years ago. You could see it had been used as a painting bench because you can still see where something had been sprayed and left the mark of a wrench in it's fabric. It has also stood in water because you can see water marks on it's feet.
It caught my mom's eye the other day as they were moving things but as things were happening it got lost in the mix. She mentioned to my cousin that if she saw it could she save it for her. My cousin found it... in the dumpster and rescued it. My mother dropped it off and said "can you do anything with it?" Checking it over there was really nothing wrong with it that a little glue wouldn't fix.
Such lovely curve appeal.
It's a bit of a pet peeve of mine to take something that has lasted for years and may have a few quirks to find it going off to the landfill. So here's a secret, people like me will still buy these things from a thrift or restore. I've put back together a few bits of furniture over the years. This one comes to
mind.
Here's what I did to bring the little bench back to life. I started by giving it a good cleaning and sanding. The water marks in the legs weren't that bad and just a quick sanding evened things out. Then I glued and clamped all the loose joints and painted it with homemade chalk paint, distressed it and sealed it with my homemade beeswax polish. Next it's new seat. Roger cut me a new wood bottom since it's original was super musty. I used some vintage sheets to upholster the seat but reinforced it with some sturdier fabric underneath. Since actually using and sitting on it won't happen all that often I felt I could get away with using the sheet. (Doubled up the fabric is quite sturdy, I may do this again sometime) Its found it's home in front of my vanity.:)
