Church pew redo

 There is a store that the "habitat for humanity" opened that's called Restore.
It's one of my favorite places to browse because the selection changes on an hourly basis...I have even been known to stand back by the receiving door to see what people are donating, so I can be the first one to buy it.
It is the perfect place to go to find things to fix up your home, or the perfect place to donate things when you are renovating your home.
A lot of the stuff that people donate when renovating their homes is not very old.

This little find however is super old, and super abused (see the stain in the middles of the cushion?).
It is an old church pew that had the hymn book holder in the back.  I bought it for $9.00 and some stain for $2.00....borrowed a power sander from a friend and went to town.
Ripped off all the cushion and fabric. Stained the wood at nights after Caden went to bed.  I am now in the process of choosing a fabric to cover the new CLEAN cushion.

These are all "before" pics, the "after" pic will come when I find some unique upholstery fabric at a decent price.

Tips on staining an old piece of furniture:

• Sand the wood until it looks like "unstained" wood...see the pic above, the right side of the hymn book holder has been sanded, the left hand side has not.
• Wear a mask when sanding and staining
• When you brush the stain onto the wood, take an old rag and wipe over the part you just stained...otherwise you will get globs of stain and it will take days to dry!
• If after you wipe over the newly stained wood, the color is not dark enough for you..just brush on some more stain, and wipe again with the rag...repeat this step until you get desired darkness.