Just a plain ole bench. Nothing special but the solid construction.

But now it has pizzazz and character! I’ll show you my “how to”.

I first sanded the bench to remove any glossy top coat. There was no flaking or peeling of the finish so a light sanding sufficed. I then painted the bench using a creamy off-white color. I prefer to use eggshell as opposed to flat or satin.  I applied two coats of paint for complete coverage. The bench was now a blank slate. I was ready to begin.

This stencil from Hobby Lobby was my inspiration…

and this stencil paint was my color choice. Just a word about stencil paint. It has been my experience that the stencil paint “creme”  takes a over a week to dry.

Not a good thing when you are using it on furniture. You can use the type I have shown or use just regular paint. The secret is to keep the stencil sponge or brush fairly dry or it will seep under the stencil.

Use either a stencil brush or sponge, both work nicely.

It is important to tape the the stencil down to keep it from shifting. Shifty stencils are not nice stencils. I squeezed a small amount of paint onto my Styrofoam plate, then spread it around so it was not too heavy and dobbed away. You can “pounce” the brush or sponge or you can move it in a circular motion, just keep it fairly dry. It is rather time consuming but well worth the work.

The paint dried very quickly allowing me to break out the palm sander right away (my favorite part). I usually do my sanding by hand but I wanted to give this bench a really heavy, distressed, aged look. I used 100 grit sandpaper for all the detailing and then switched to 220 grit for a quick sanding of the diamonds.

After distressing the bench I finished up with a coat of mocha glaze, (see my posting on the turquoise armoire to see how this is applied). This further ages the piece.

I love it! What do you think? Be sure to “sign up” on my blog so you’ll be updated every time a new post is written.