Bench Restoration!

This wooden bench is a few years old, and was one of the cheapest too. Made of wood and came stained. It looked really nice when new. Kind of bla but nice. But there might have been only one thin coat of stain on it to begin with. It also had some kind of shiny stuff over the stain, which quickly wore off due to sun, rain, snow, hot, cold, etc. I was waiting for that shiny layer to completely break down so I could stain in in a nice color using a good solid stain. I have used Behr Deckover premium solid stain for years on various projects, such as an Adirondack bench, my chicken buildings, etc. I just love this stuff! It holds up so well! And it looks so nice too! They have a great color selection too! 

I decided to stain it with the same color as my Adirondack bench, blue spruce, so it would match nicely! 

Today I applied 2 good coats done on the entire bottom, which I worked on first, flipped upside down. I did the first coat before work, then did the second coat after work. After dinner it was dry so I flipped it right side up to stain the rest of it and now have one good coat on the top sections now. One more coat to go, which I’ll get done before work tomorrow morning. But it already looks great! I don’t really need a second coat but want to do it to ensure durability, after all, it’s the top sections that take the most abuse! After work it’ll be dry and ready to move back outside! Can’t wait! 

I also have an old picnic table that we inherited when we purchased our home 7 years ago. It had been painted a light blue and looked great at first. But the paint is pealing badly now. The picnic table itself is in good shape. So I will scrape off all of the paint and sand it, and then I’ll stain it instead using this same stain and color! I just love the blue spruce color! When I’m done with it, that picnic table will look great again and because I’m using stain, it’s not going to peel again! I can touch it up as needed! I bought one gallon of the stain to use for my bench and picnic table. 

If I have any left over I’ll touch up my Adirondack bench with a fresh coat, as it has been about 10 years since I stained it. There are a couple of scratches and nicks from when we moved, and the armrests tend to get the most wear and tear. All in all, it’s not bad but I’d like to refresh it a bit! Even if I don’t have enough stain left over, I will go back and get more! 

Here is the bench that I’m almost done staining! One more coat on the top surfaces and it’s done! 

This is my Adirondack bench in the same exact stain! 

Here’s the work in progress for the bench I stained today! What a difference! 

First coat done on the bottom! 

Second coat dome on the bottom! 

Ready for the first coat on the top sections! 

First coat on the top section are in the first two photos in this blog!

Addendum: Second coat done to the top of the bench! I even did a thin third coat on surfaces that are most vulnerable to wear and tear! It’s still drying but either later on today or tomorrow after work, I’ll ask Hubby to assist me with taking it outside! I brought it down into the basement through the bulkhead by myself but that was when I didn’t care about singing it by mistake! With the new stain, I’m not taking any chances! It’s going to be brought out safely so it doesn’t get scratched or dinged on the way out! I’ll get another photo once it’s outside! For now, here it is!