Tuesday, June 4, 2013

The accidental bench

Benches seem to be flying out of the store as fast as I can make them.  When that happens, everything you see starts looking like bench material!  Like the headboard and foot board from this vintage bedroom set I purchased.





Painted baby blue when I got it, someone had tried to extend the side rails to accommodate  a modern mattress.  But I think they enlisted the help of an entire Kindergarden class to make the repairs because it was terrible!!  Nine hundred hardware pieces and painted a completely different blue than the rest of the bed.  Awful!

Anyway, since there was no salvaging the headboard and foot board for a bed, another bench was born.



And it flew away to another state!

The most recent in the bench obsession started with a score of Chevy truck body parts from the 1970s.


What sold me on the lot was the metal tailgate name plate that said Chevrolet.  Wish I had the whole tailgate, but it was not meant to be!


The front grill to the left is actually from 1975, while the rest of the parts are from 1972-73.  The grill to the right was broken, so I sawed it apart to make the side pieces under the arm rests.

Anyway, as soon as I loaded these parts, I knew another bench was happening.  This time, the big purchase didn't make up any part of the bench structure, but was simply decorative.  This meant that I had to build the entire bench from scratch, instead of just the seat.  I also had to make sure that when you sat on the bench, the front grill didn't poke your back.



I found a very long counter top that had been made into the world's longest sofa table.  Picture eight feet long with six legs.  That became the seat portion.

After researching the truck colors of the period, many of which resembled something you might find in a dirty diaper (just sayin'), I settled on a lovely deep aqua/lagoon blue.




I fit the longest pieces back onto the bench, then cut down the grill for the arms.  The front grill had the "bow tie" outline, but not the decorative emblem itself.  A trip to my local Chevy dealer didn't turn up one, but they recommended my usual body shop guy.  Sure enough, he had a salvaged bow tie for a repair job he did.  And he gave it to me!


And then it was done!  Okay, more than a miracle had to occur to get to this point, but get there I did!



Here is the side shot showing the cut-down grill under the armrests.

The back even sports taillight covers and a TN plate from 1972!

I would like to say that I am done making benches (cuz I know you are bored with them) but I can't promise!  I do have more furniture stashed away that needs my attention, but you never know....

Update:  Sold in the first hour the store was open today!

Linking to:
Time Travel Thursday
Treasure Hunt Thursday