Our DIY Church Pew

I can’t believe I’m writing this post, guys. I mean, I’ve wanted a church pew for literally so many years and I’ve actively been searching for one for over a year in local thrift stores, salvage yards, online, craigslist – you name it. I actually was about to purchase one from Barn Door Decor ( my favourite shop ever )  when my brother brought over to pew arms. I mean, what are the odds right?! He’s currently my favourite brother, shhhhh don’t tell Josh.

Here’s what they looked like Glen building them into a pew.

They weren’t that high.. I think maybe 26-28″ high, so Glen had to add an additional foot onto the bottoms. They weren’t in the best condition so I thought if Glen ended up not being able to use them, I was going to paint em’ white and use them as decor. So now I’m on a hunt for some equally as stunning architectural salvage pieces.

I gave them a good sand down, but I wasn’t able to get into the grooves that well and I hate using harsh chemical compounds, so I just left them as is and kind of incorporated it into my piece. The really hard part was getting our new white pine to match these maple pieces. I mean, do you know how hard that is?!

I first stained our finished pew in early american.. but then you could totally tell where the pine stopped and started. So then I decided to mix Jacobean with some red mahogany. That made it a little better, but still you could totally tell that the woods were not the same. My original plan was to paint the pew white but we are literally snowed in with 17″ of snow at the moment, and I have no patient bones in my body. Serious.

I distressed the whole pew, wiped it down due to dust & then did my white washing technique.

So what I did was this: First watered my little bit of white pain down that I did have. I used 1 TBLS of pure white paint and about 1.5 cups of water. Mixed it, and used it to white wash the entire pew. Then I wiped it down, and then did a few strokes here and there. Ended up looking pretty great. I will most likely paint it white down the road, but it’s working for now. It looks very vintage and ‘beat up’.

& here’s how she is looking right now.

I have kind of a few dilemmas with my entrance. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love my house but there are a few things I could live without.

First is: Electrical baseboards.. these stinkers are really ugly. So if you look really closely, my blanket on the pew is trying to disguise it.

Second, is that dang tile pad in the entrance. I mean, everything we have ever had in the entrance sits on that thing and makes the bench wobbly. It’s really annoying. Plus, gets messy so quick. It shows everything.. So I’ll have to order a 5×3 jute rug one day to disguise it!

Regardless, the pew is a total show stopper in our home and I’m really glad that I could add something with such appeal. I love love love old, antique, beat up, almost-falling-apart pieces. Some people think I’m weird but I grew up with my mom who also has a love for vintage pieces. She often had pieces that the finish was falling off, legs were rotting off, dents galore – you get the picture.  So I tried my best to make this pew look like it had been pulled out of an old building. The white pine is so hard to make this happen.

Cost of pew? 0 Dollars!

It’s literally my favourite piece in my entire house and someday I want to get some big wicker baskets for underneath the pew for extra storage. Below I’ll post my “vision” for this space. I’ve decided to start making vision boards for my spaces so I literally only buy ( when I can ) the pieces that I have on there. I’m the kind of person that will buy something if It’s on clearance and use that and then not love my space. It’s a bad habit.

I feel like right now in my life, I literally don’t have time for anyone. I’m completely aware that some might not wait around for me to be less busy.. but at the same time I’m going insane. Between being a mama of three, our business, my schooling, blogging ( which I must keep up because it’s my one outlet and I love my income from it ), young living and then cleaning, cooking ( wife things ). Life is hectic.

Here’s a shot of what I want my entrance to look like someday.

I am going a bit hard on my schooling right now as I do want to finish sooner than later because I probably can only go so long at this speed. But hey, I’m learning so much!

Hope y’all are having an amazing day & thank you for stopping  by my blog.