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A Story of Restoration
Transformation of a Garage work bench


You may be wondering what possessed me to even contemplate salvaging this item of furniture but as usual I could see the potential.


The garage was scheduled to be demolished at a later date and I made the decision to salvage the work bench because my kitchen was in much need of some extra worktop and storage space.


I proceeded to remove the drawers and the battered top from the bench and sanded it down to provide a key for the paint.  The bench required a coat of antique oak stain first to provide a sufficient base for the finish that I required.   I wanted to give the piece of furniture an aged effect so prior to painting I used a fine small artists brush to apply blobs of vaseline or if you prefer you can use beeswax polish.  This was left to dry before applying a liberal coat of ivory emulsion paint and using light pressure in order to preserve the vaseline/wax previously applied.  I then left the paint to dry overnight.  I applied a further coat of paint in ivory,  which was watered down,  though you could use another colour but this was my required finish.  Once the paint had started to dry I began to expose the varnish beneath by rubbing the area gently with a cloth or a scraper in any awkward areas then finished off with a light sanding. 


I fitted some new chrome cup handles to the drawer fronts and had a length of kitchen worktop cut to size in a light beech colour.  


Baskets have been utilised on the shelf beneath to provide much needed storage space and I am sure you will agree this piece of furniture looks just as good as those items featured in today's magazines.

January 2011

Jan 2011

Jan 2011