Nothin' a little paint can't fix

My husband mercilessly teases me as we drive by our complex's dumpster or we pass a pile of precariously stacked rejects on the side of the road when my eyebrows raise and my head turns clear around as I examine the potential treasures. Every once in a while, I'll find something I'm genuinely excited about, so lets get to work!

This was originally purposed as an entertainment center base, the TV sat on top with room on either side for displaying items. Provided underneath is a nice spot for consoles and hidden storage on either side. My hope was to make this into a bench to place against a lonely part of our wall and provide casual seating in our itty bitty living area!

It was a nice wood that, all things considered, was in reasonable shape but the first thing I noticed about this was the intricate detailing on the cabinet doors and around the border.

Unfortunately, intricate detail means intricate dust placement! All that white on the left is dust buildup from who knows how long...so I got a thin cleaning cloth, a toothpick, pledge, popped in a movie and got to work.

Once dusting was all finished, I lightly sanded some spots and then I broke out the paintbrushes and learned that intricate detail not only meant intricate dusting, but intricate painting!! At this point it had been hours, but I was so excited at how it was coming along that I didn't mind!! I went for black for a few different reasons-1. the wood grain I found it in matched nothing in our house 2. Most of our accent pieces are black and 3. Giving an older piece with antique cutouts a fresh coat of paint can bring it a whole new look-I was so happy with the sleek look the black gave it, while still preserving its character!

Part 2: The Cushion

After measuring and determining how much fabric I would need, I pressed creases into the fabric in three x's and got to work pinning them!

After doing a double hem on all of them I decided to add a black accent stitch to pull the cushion and the bench together visually.

Using button molds and black fabric, I got to work cutting and making matching fabric buttons to place in the center of each X that I'd just stitched into the cushion cover

Also, with the developing plan of making black pillows to throw on top, I made a few buttons out of the tan fabric to have ready for me.

After a lot of sewing the cushion was made and stuffed! On went the black buttons!!

Adding pillows to the top wasn't at all in my original plan, but once seeing the cushion without them the space didn't feel as inviting as I was hoping for. So using the black fabric (Same exact fabric, different color), I threw together two small throw pillows for accent and coupled them with a statement pillow to pull the color scheme of the room and the black & tan bench all together.

I love the open section in the middle for displaying little things and then the closed cabinets-because who in the word doesn't like pretty storage?!

Could this have easily been done without going through the trouble of painting it? Of course. But there's just something about a fresh coat of paint that completely revives an old piece of furniture and gives it a whole new look, check it out!!

So here's the finished product, I'm so incredibly happy with it and it's quite seriously one of my most prized DIY's!