Telephone Bench Makeover Revealed

A few weekends ago, I ventured to the suburbs and came back with some contraband spray paint (since spray paint is not sold in the Chicago City Limits) in order to finally makeover my telephone bench! I bought primer, clear gloss and yellow, green and aqua blue spray paint.

After much debate I decided that the yellow looked best with the yard of green printed fabric I had picked out, so I went with that. Here is the fabric:

Here is the "before" photo:

And now to the dirty work. First, I removed the seat and sanded the bench with the electric sander:

Next, I primed it:

And finally, I sprayed it yellow and also with a clear gloss:

I also tore the disgusting green vinyl off of the seat, added some new batting and reupholstered it with the new fabric:

And ta-da! My new and improved Telephone Bench:

And here is where it currently rests in our entryway!

I found my telephone bench!

I posted back in February about my hunt for a vintage telephone bench to make-over and after multiple craigslist searches for "Telephone Table", "Telephone Bench" and "Gossip Bench" I either came up short, or found pieces that were $100+. I couldn't bring myself to spend that on something that I am going to sand, paint and upholster myself. I also went out two weekends in a row to various local antique stores and re-sale places and never found anything either. But recently my luck changed...

On Sunday, Dave and I headed down to the southside of Chicago, no not for Chicago's infamous South Side Irish St. Patrick's Day Parade, but to pick up the telephone bench I found on Craigslist for only $45. Woo-hoo.

Here are the pics:

I like that it has a full bench, as opposed to a single seat, and while it lacks the drawer I had hoped for, I do like the crisscross detail on the seat back. Not too ornate, but still eye-catching.

So now I need to sand it with my new electric sander and then... choose the paint color! This is going to be a hard one. I want it to be bold, but not an eyesore. I did buy one yard of green patterned fabric and one yard of orange patterned fabric for the seat, but I'm torn on the wood color. Right now I'm leaning towards a deep aubergine or eggplant color, and I think it would look nice with either fabric choice. But I also like the idea of having an aqua color with the orange fabric Or an orange piece with the green fabric.

Any suggestions?

Kitschy Kool: Volume 7: Telephone Tables/Benches

Recently, I have been really interested in finding a vintage telephone bench/telephone table and taking on a little refurbishing project all my own. After scouring the net for the perfect entryway bench piece (and falling short), I decided that a custom piece, like a revamped vintage telephone table, would be an unexpected addition to our entryway area.

I gained some inspiration from a few old entries I found on design blogs, like these "before" and "after" features from Design Sponge.

virginia's telephone bench

before:

after:

Amazing what some sanding and a little spray paint can do!

Next is breanne and dan's telephone bench

before:

after:

Wow, right?

And last but not least, there is this cute little number I found on Quest Twenty Eight:

before:

after:

What a transformation!

So now I am on the hunt for the perfect tattered table to take out my creativity on. I found one post on craigslist so far, and it's affordable but I'm not sure it is the one ...

It's nice and has tons of potential, but ideally I'd like it to have a small drawer, and maybe less ornate detail on top. What do you think?

Mad props to any fellow blogger that can help me find a listing for the perfect table! Chicago-land area or St. Louis area (maybe even Milwaukee for the right find) only please, since I need to be able to pick drive it up in our new SUV!