Category: Home Decor

I have visited the AR Workshop in Annapolis a bunch of times before and created really fun projects at their storefront. However, with the ongoing pandemic they launched a new Take & Make DIY-To-Go Kit option, so I decided to give it a try!

I’ve had my eye on one of their projects ever since they shared it on social media early this Spring, so it was an easy choice. They provided my piece of wood, the stencil, sponges, and primary colored paint.

The sample project that I chose had a white painted background, so I guess they assumed I’d want to paint mine white too. However, I like the look of stained wood better… and luckily Lindsey had some on hand for me to use. Once the stain dried, I attached my stencil and got to paint mixing! Since they only provided red, yellow, blue, black and white I had to mix some colors to cover the entire rainbow.

Mixing the colors myself was a fun way to have an absolutely original and customized project. I’m really happy with how it turned out, but I’m not sure if I would do a take-home project with them again, as there were some drawbacks. First, the colors were much more limited and there were no stain options. Also, they didn’t provide me with hanging supplies (perhaps they forgot to throw it in?), but luckily Lindsey had an extra pack for me to use.

If you don’t mind the fact that it’s a bit more DIY than their typical sessions at their storefront, it is a fun way to spend some time at home.

{Pssst, this isn’t a sponsored post, but if you want to find an AR Workshop you can find them here: https://www.arworkshop.com/}

I could have also named this post, “A Temporary Fix” because while this DIY is fine in the “how to” upholster something, the final product was just kind of… eh. Anyways, I was bored on Saturday so I threw this project together. I had picked up an old free bench months ago when Lindsey and I were doing some antiquing. We ripped the old and gross fabric off of it and threw it in the back of my car.

Pretty much immediately, I regretted it. So it lived in my garage for months and I was thinking about putting it out for the garbage truck to pick up.

I didn’t need the bench and it was in pretty yucky condition with bits of old fluff stuck to it. However, as I mentioned. I was bored. So, I grabbed an old floor scraper and scraped off the old fluff.

Then, I cut some foam down to the same size as the top of the bench.

I threw some of my velvet upholstery options on the floor from my sewing bin (I picked these up probably 20+ years ago when I was out hitting yard sales with a friend):

I picked the green, so I stuck it on top the bench and foam and got out my handy staple gun…

And BAM, I have a new footrest for my hanging chair.

As I mentioned, I don’t love it. In fact, I’m not really loving my sunroom at all right now. After making it absolutely perfect last spring (you can see it here), in the fall I stole my white sunroom couch and randomly decided to redecorate the den (here’s that post). And the problem is, I LOVE my new den. Which means I need to run out and buy another couch and ottoman for my sunroom. But, #quarentine. So, I decided to make do with that I had around my house.

Once life goes back to normal(ish), we will have to take a trip to Ikea and grab another $399 slipcovered EKTORP couch. Same goes for Homegoods – once they open, I can grab a replacement ottoman. However, for now we are still hunkered down so this bench will work. And then, I’ll add it to my donation pile so someone else can thrift and enjoy it!