X Marks The Spot: DIY Patterned Bench

A little while ago I saw this sad little bench sitting on my sister's deck. 


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Apparently my BIL inherited it from the previous home owner. He didn't want to throw it away but didn't know what to do with it so it just lived in a corner on the deck. 

Ever since I started this blog I see everything as a DIY opportunity!

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This old thing was in pretty rough shape. The old paint readily flaked off in some areas but in other areas...I had deck stripping flashbacks... *shudder*

I spent about 3 hours sanding off the old paint. No, I do not have an electric sander or paint stripper....

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The bench was also a little wobbly so I replaced some of the screws and also filled in some cracks and dents with wood filler.

I was going to get my usual Painter's Touch spray paint in Winter Grey but I was at Canadian Tire and they don't carry that brand so I went with the only glossy grey they had: 

Krylon's Smoke Gray spray paint. I was a little apprehensive because we all know my last experience with Krylon spray paint...but decided to give it a shot.

I quickly noticed that the spray paint wasn't really showing up against the wood. 

So I whipped out whatever was left of my white metal clad paint and gave the bench a coat of paint which resulted in this:

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I had inadvertently white washed the bench! I always wanted to try white washing. I love the look. It's beautiful!

I was tempted to just leave it as is but I don't think this style suits my sister and BIL. 

So I slapped on another thicker coat of paint to give me a smoother surface to work with and then gave it a couple coats of the smoke grey spray paint.

When it came to the pattern, I really wanted a trellis pattern similar to this:

But I can't afford to buy a stencil and doing it by hand is just out of the question although I know some talented DIYers out there are more than capable of doing it!
So I went with a simple pattern. 

I divided the bench into 4 with 1/2" thick diagonol white lines: 

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Then realizing what a time consuming process this was going to be, I decided to make it 1" lines (because painter's tape comes in 1") and divided the bench in 3, instead of 4. 

SO then I had to reverse my painting sequence. 

I repainted the top of the bench white- this time in a latex paint for a faster drying time. 
I let that dry for 24 hours just to make sure it was completely dry. Then I took 1" painter's tape and taped 3 X's on the bench making sure the tape was taut and firmly in place:


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Then I painted a thin layer of white paint over the tape and let it dry:

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This will seal off the edges to prevent any grey paint from seeping under the tape- allowing you to have perfect lines. This is a brilliant painting tip that's all over blog world. Whoever discovered it is a genius!

While the paint was drying I went to Home Depot for my trusty Painter's Touch spray paint in Winter Gray. Why do I stray from what I know is good and right?! I supposed it's good to always try new things right? 
Yes it is. And sometimes you just don't have a choice. Winter Gray was out of stock!
So I went with Tremclad- my first time using this...

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And this time I went with a flat finish. I wasn't loving the glossy sheen the Krylon paint gave. It make it look too silvery- almost metallic-like but in a cheap way. That probably doesn't make a lot of sense. I had a picture of it to show you but it got lost when my hard drive died. In any case, I didn't like it.  

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This gray is pretty dark (Painter's Touch Winter Gray is A LOT lighter). Other than the limited colour selection, I LOVE this brand of spray paint! It is so pigmented. What took Krylon 2-3 coats, this did in 1. Pretty awesome.
Want to see how great that paint trick worked on the stripes?

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How awesome is that?!
For those you thinking the extra step is not worth it, look at what happens when you don't do the paint trick:

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I had to touch up a small area and foolishly thought I could get away with not doing the paint trick. BAD IDEA.

So once I took the time to fix everything properly, I looked at the bench and went "hm...". I wasn't sold on the overall look.
Don't you hate it when your vision looks a lot better in your head than in reality?
I'm not sure what's wrong with it. It might be the high contrast between the white and gray, it might be that I should have gone with 1/2" lines instead of 1", or 4 segments, instead of 3. Regardless, something had to be done.
To try to remedy this, I painted the edges white:

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A little better, no?
Yes but the white paint seeped through! I guess I didn't spray a thick enough layer of gray paint to seal the edges. Argh. At this point, I wanted to ditch this project. What I thought was going to be a quick makeover was starting to annoy me.

Let the retouching begin! And finally:


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I can envision them using this as a time out bench. "Sit on the X for 2 minutes and don't move!"


Again the before and after:

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When my sister came over for dinner, she didn't even recognize it! That's a good sign!