Thursday, December 10, 2009

Help

We bought this deacon's bench a few weeks ago.  We assembled it on the weekend and I have spent the week staining it. It took me a while to decide on the stain.  I knew I wanted to stain it, not paint it so some of the beauty of the grain shone through, but I also wanted it to look custom, not like I just bought it finished.  This is the bench after 2 applications of Minwax driftwood.  It is shown against the new half wall Kevin just built and I painted.  Our entrance is really small and I wanted somewhere that we could sit and put our shoes on (not on the stairs because that causes a real traffic flow problem).   
So here's where I need help.  Should I leave it plain, as above or paint flowers (or something else) as shown below.  I painted the flowers quickly on a piece of clear plastic just so I could see what it might look like.  I hope my real paint job is a bit better, though it has been years since I painted anything.  I could also put flowers in other spots.  So please, give me your opinions. 
One of the last times my parents came to visit my dad mentioned that the banister needed refinishing.  That would be because of an unnamed child who slides down the rail with his shoes.  So, I added that to my list of things to do before Christmas.  Thanks Dad - I didn't have enough to keep me busy.  There are a few drips but it sure looks better than before.  So shiny!

2 comments:

SusanE said...

In the bottom two pictures, I prefer the one with the flowers.

Fiddling Granny said...

I agree with Susan .... a bit wider than what you have on there.

I think if you're not artistic (I'm not) you can get decals of ivy leaves in a sort of garland ..

Just a thought. Nice bench.