Pinterest Challenge

Hello hello! I wanted to do a quick mini-post about my Pinterest Challenge! My favorite HGTV host, design blogger and personal style icon Emily Henderson invited her readers to join her in the challenge on her blog last week. Pinterest is a virtual peg board where you can post any image you find on the web and organize it, just like a bulletin board! I'm so obsessed. So the challenge was to choose an image on pinterest that inspires a DIY project, and complete it in a week. I was all over this, because I had an old piano bench that I bought at a thrift store for $10 that I intended to redo "when I had time", aka never. So the deadline appealed to me. Here is my inspiration photo:



Taken from countryliving.com This is Sarah Richardson's summer home...one day when I was home sick I watched her show about redoing this gorgeous house all day long, and then her home was featured in Country Living, so I was very happy to see the show translated to photos. Of course those windows are ah-ma-zing but I also love the relaxed and slightly shabby chic combo of the blues and whites. Since this is the general vibe of my master bedroom, I decided to redo the bench with this photo in mind. I started out with this.



Nothing great, but it was only $10! I couldn't pass it up. It was in generally sturdy condition, and it has this neat label inside the lid to the storage compartment:



So this sucker's at least 50 years old, and it once belonged to a piano! It needed a new home.

Here were my tools for the outside portion of the DIYing. Don't forget the Off...



I used Rust Oleum Ultimate Wood Stain in Sunbleached, because that was all that Lowe's had here as far as a light stain. It worked out nicely though, the color was more blue-gray than white, so I liked it. Plus, I didn't strip the bench, I just sanded it down, so some of the original stain would show through and create an even more rustic look than straight up whitewash. I let it dry overnight, then ventured on over to the one fabric store in town: Wal-Mart. I found two foam cushions that together would work perfectly, and then some quilt batting to wrap around that and create smooth edges. Finally, I bought some ticking stripe fabric to cover the cushion. The ticking stripe matched perfectly with my bed skirt, but I upholstered the bench with the stripes going horizontally since the bed skirt stripes were vertical, so it would have a little contrast. (The bench now lives at the foot of the bed, to no doubt collect clothes.)



Sorry for the poor photo quality. I'll try to take one with a better camera with the bench actually in the bedroom. (Maybe that can be the next challenge? Actually take a good photo of your project!) Overall, I'm very proud of myself, mainly for the reason that I actually did this in the first place. I'm not a good DIYer for the same reasons Emily said she wasn't-I'm not patient enough. Besides waiting for the stain to dry-this was a pretty quick little project.

Plus, Patsy really enjoyed the Mother Theresa headscarf I made her from the scraps. You can just see the sheer joy on her little kitten face.



Check out my boards at www.pinterest.com/ruthmarie86