Deal of the Day

So about a month ago my parents came down and spent the weekend.  This always means we check out the garage sales on Saturday morning...without fail.  And we usually score something good since my parents wake up at the crack of dawn - even on a Saturday.  This time it happened to be my turn to score big!  Check out what I found for $5:

That's right!  An awesome old bench with original wood and cast iron like sides.  The only problems we saw was that one of the edges leaned because of a broken brace and that it needed painted. 

So, on Sunday, Mom and I decided to tackle the project!

First we flipped it over and had Dad work on the brace.

It needed to have a washer added to hold it together and to straighten the brace.

Next, I hauled out my heavy duty drill.  Funny story, when I bought it, the sales man told the young man he was training to never get between a girl and her power tools - I chuckle every time I use my drill. :)
Anyway, I added some missing screws to the bottom of the bench and tightened other ones. 

*Note, if I as going to tackle this project again, this is what I would do.  I would remove each wood slat, sand it down, re-stain it, spray paint the sides and then reassemble the entire thing.  Unfortunately, Mom and I didn't think of that until it was almost done.

Okay, back to the hard way that Mom and I took...

Next, we scrubbed it all down and then used some latex paint remover that Mom found in my basement to remove as much paint as possible.

A pic after all the paint was removed.

Next we scrubbed it all down again and left for lunch at Perkins since it was Dad's birthday and he got to pick when and where we ate that day.

After everything dried pretty well, it was time to start the fun!  I hauled out some lawn bag to protect the wood slats while I spray painted the sides. 

The awesome sides:

Love it!!!

Anyway, next we stained all the wood slats once and let it dry.  Then we did a few other odd and end projects while the bench dried.  One move coat of stain and see what I ended up with!

Alright, since I'm a numbers person, let's break down the numbers for the project:

Bench: $5 (plus free delivery to my house from the lady who was running the yard sale - score!!!)
Sand paper and sander: $8
Quart of nutmeg stain from Ace: $10
Black spray paint: already owned

Total: $23!  I checked some up online and they were over $100.  Awesome savings! :)