The Cutest Little Church Pew

I love this little bench! A neighbor and good friend bought a house and discovered this old church pew in her basement. It was part of a longer, curved pew and her husband cut off the long part and offered me the cute little section. It has been sitting in my entryway for a while and we have been using it, but I have been itching to have time to strip it and refinish it.

I love the fact that this church pew has its roots in this community. When I was a kid the Presbyterians and Methodists each had a cute little church on Main Street. When I was a teenager, they congregations combined and built a new church a few blocks away. This pew was rescued from one of the original churches and stored in a basement until brought to light from my friend.

I began the somewhat laborious process of stripping the old stain. It is a fun process, but messy!

Then came a whole lot of sanding–

Now comes the decision of what kind of new finish I want to apply. There are so many options, but I think I want to go dark in order to help hide the dark water damage on the bottom of the legs. I sanded as much of the water damage discoloration as I could, but it can’t all be sanded out.

After first coat of stain–

After second coat of stain–

After final coat of stain and three coats of polyurethane–

And here is a picture of one of my handsome sons on said bench–

This was such a fun project and I learned a lot doing it! I still have the hymnal rack and communion cup holder. I don’t plan on reattaching them, but I have some ideas in mind to use them in another way.

Thanks for reading!