NORM ABRAM IS A FRIEND OF MINE......

Not really, but he should be.  Because Mak & Jill grace the pages of This Old House Magazine this month, with this amazing headboard-turned-bench!

Isn't it beautiful!?  

We made this bench a little over a year ago, and somehow the people at This Old House Magazine found it and asked if they could feature it in their next issue.  Uh - ya! This Old House?  Seriously?  We LOVE This Old House!!  Simon Wilson, (my husband - in case you didn't know) had This Old House on the t.v. all weekend long, back in it's hey day.  All weekend long.  He really did think that Norm was his friend.  Felt like he knew him well.  Norm taught him almost everything he knows!!  Really.  So not only was it exciting for us (Mak & Jill) but it was exciting for Simon.  

Have you seen the article yet?Isn't that so cool!?

Here is the cover of the magazine.  I know you will want to run out and buy it if you haven't already, and maybe frame it, like we did. :)

 

 See where it says Best low-cost blogger projects?  On the cover?  Ya - that's us!  They are talking about us - on the cover!! :)

Okay - enough about us.  For those of you who would like a little more detail about the "how-to", here it is.  But first lets take a moment to talk about shop safety.  :)  Not really!  Just had to throw that in there for all you Norm Abram fans.

 

Find a cute/interesting headboard/footboard.  Chop up the footboard to use for the arms.

Attach it all with the railings of the bed frame, or maybe some 2x4's if there are no railings...

 

Then attach it all with glue, screws, brackets - you name it!  Simon Wilson likes to build everything to withstand hurricane force winds, so he did all of the above.  :)

Then it's time to make a seat.  Simon chopped up an old coffee table.  You can also use planks of wood.  Get creative!

And then put a fabulous finish on it.  We always paint our things with Chalk Paint®.

 We LOOOOVE that stuff!  You can paint it and leave it raw to weather in the elements, looking chalky and beachy, or you can wax it (if it's going indoors) or you can do a number of other finishes.  We finished this project with a minwax stain/poly combo, to make it more weatherproof, and antique it at the same time.  Not or normal finish, but why be normal?

Here are a few more fabulous headboard benches to inspire you....

This is actually not a headboard bench.  Mak made this bench out of two chairs.  We LOVE it though, so we had to share.

This is another headboard turned bench made by Mr. Wilson.  Notice this seat was made using wood planks.

This is an image I found on line, and don't know who did it, but it definitely feels like a Mak & Jill style piece.  Love it!

And this is another I found on line.  Also beautiful, and very much our style!

So there you go.  Lot's of headboard benches and inspiration.  

If you are inspired enough to build one of these babies, we would love for you to send us pics so we can share it!  We'd love to see what you come up with!  And Norm, if you're out there, Simon says "We love you man"!

Bed Turned Bench Twin Sister

Here she is!  The quieter, more laid back sister of "Bed Turned Bench".  

There are the twins before:

And here is the first bench, during.  She was given a slatted seat, made out of scrap wood.

But her sister was given a solid seat, so she could be hinged, and supply some storage!  Because we can all use more storage, right!?  Right!!

She got the shabby chic treatment with some Annie Sloan Old White, some distressing, and a coat of clear wax.  Per Rick, the buyer, who loves some shabby chic!

And here they are together.....

So which is your favorite?

Bed Turned Into Bench

This beautiful bench, made by my talented husband Simon, was a somewhat useless twin head/footboard in a former life!

If you have some old bed frames lying around collecting dust, you may want to pull out the chop saw and get building!  If you don't like using the power tools - I don't - then find yourself a Simon!  

Here is how Mr. Wilson did it.

First he found a bed frame on the side of the house collecting dust.  Yes - on the side of the house.  The garage is completely full of more important pieces!  This one was intended for scrap wood.

Next, you chop it up and stuff.  Really.  I don't know exactly what he did to it.  But I do know that he used almost all of the bed.  The sides are the bed rails.  The front is the footboard, minus some of it - so you could actually sit on it.  And I know he took great care in measuring the seat height before he chopped things up.  Lot's of measuring was going on.

And then some scrap wood was used to make the seat.  

We debated over whether it should have arms on the sides, and decided not to put them on, as it was made from a twin bed, so it's not very large, and we wanted it to feel more open, and roomy.

And then I came along with my fabulous Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  This is a mixture of Florence and Napoleonic Blue.  I painted it, distressed it, and then finished it with a minwax polyurethane/stain in one.  I hadn't tried that finish before, but I imagined this bench living outside, and I wanted it to look antiqued, and I didn't want to spend too much time doing all sorts of layers to get the look I wanted.

I love my Bed Turned Bench. 

This twin bed did have a twin.  There were two!  So keep an eye out for the next one!

Sharing with;

 

http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/ http://missmustardseed.com/  

http://www.decoratinginsanity.com/ http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/ 

http://www.atthepicketfence.com/ 

http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/ http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/ 

http://www.somewhatsimple.com/ http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/ 

http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/ http://www.fivedaysfiveways.com/ 

http://www.remodelaholic.com/ http://www.findingfabulousblog.com/ 

http://tatertotsandjello.com/  

 

http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/ http://www.myrepurposedlife.net/ 

http://www.sistersofthewildwest.blogspot.com/ http://www.redouxinteriors.com/

 

http//makinglemonadeblog.blogspot.com/ http://diyshowoff.com/