Grey Painted Piano Bench – A Thrift Store Makeover

One of my favorite things to do on a summer Saturday morning is hop out of bed, throw on my favorite pair of blue jeans, pull a worn baseball cap over my ponytail and take off in my car with the windows down for a quick thrift store fix.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about thrift shopping, it’s that you have to stop by the store often because they are constantly adding new items to the shelves. And you just never know what you’ll find. The more frequently I stop, the more likely it is that I’ll find something amazing.

Actually, who am I kidding? I almost always find something I just have to bring home from my thrifting excursions (wink).

There’s an amazing local thrift store just a few blocks down the street from my house, and I stop by it often. They don’t usually have much for furniture, but one day I spotted this beautiful piano bench. I stopped in my tracks and visions of paint colors flooded my brain. For $10, I certainly wasn’t going to pass it up. After ensuring it was sturdy, I carried it to the counter, handed over my cash and loaded it in the backseat of my car. I could hardly wait to get home and start painting!

This bench was the perfect fit for the small wall between our bedroom door and the closet doors, and it wound up being a pretty addition to our navy bedroom makeover. See how great it fits on that wall? That’s totally how I justified the purchase to my husband (wink).

This post contains affiliate links for painting products I love. For more information, see my disclosure.

Grey Painted Piano Bench

Although the bench was a great size for our bedroom, it needed a makeover to fit in with the decor. I hauled it out to our backyard and got to work.

Supply List:

• Paint Stripper
• Paint Scraper
• Painter’s Tape
• Gold Spray Paint
• Grey Chalk Paint
• Paint Brush
• Dark Antique Wax
• Light Antique Wax

My first step was to strip the top coat and stain. I used this paint stripper and a basic paint scraper, and it didn’t take me long at all to strip the small piano bench.

I also unscrewed the hinges to I could remove the top of the bench to make it easier to strip and paint.

On an impulse, I grabbed a can of gold spray paint I’ve been itching to use on something and painted the bottom half of the legs. I’ve been admiring furniture with color-dipped legs, so this was my chance to give it a try.

After the gold paint had dried, I placed painter’s tape around the legs where I wanted the gold to end. And then I set out to work on painting. I’m new to painting furniture, but I’ve been really impressed with this one-step chalk paint from Amy Howard. It goes on smoothly and dries quickly. And for a girl like me who has little patience, a quick-drying paint is always welcome! The grey I used is named A Good Man Is Hard To Find.

Did you know that paint cans work great for propping up painting projects off of the ground? I used a couple to keep the bench seat off of the grass.

Once the grey paint had dried, I used a small amount of dark antiquing wax to add some dimension and emphasis to the detail on the legs. Can you see in the below picture how there’s a bit of shadowing brown around the legs? That’s the dark wax.

To finish off the piece, I brushed a coat of light antique wax over the entire bench.

What do you think? This turned out to be an easy afternoon project, and quite affordable, too! I spent $10 on the thrifted bench and already had the paint on hand from another project. And the result is this grey painted piano bench, which I think has so much more character than its former glossy pine self.

If you’ve never tried painting furniture, I highly recommend giving it a shot! Look for a small piece of furniture like a piano bench or simple end table for your first project so its manageable to practice on.

More Navy Bedroom Posts

If you want to see more of my navy bedroom makeover, check out these blog posts:

[go_portfolio id=”navy_bedroom_makeover”]

Enjoy your day,

This post contains affiliate links for painting products I love. For more information, see my disclosure.

Save

Save

Save

Save