Mellow-Yellow Bench Makeover

If you know me at all, you will quickly learn that I am a frequent Craigslister. I covered some tips on how to successfully sell your stuff on Craigstlist but didn’t talk much about buying things on it. That’s because I’ve done a lot more selling than buying. Well, as of a few days ago, I added to my Craigstlist buying experience when I picked up this guy.

I don’t feel quite competent on writing a whole post on how how to buy stuff on Craigslist but I will share this one tip: If something has been listed for over a week, offer a lower price. If the seller hasn’t gotten a response, they may be getting antsy to get rid of their item. As a frequent seller on Craigstlist, I can say from experience that this is true. I often will sell my item cheaper after a week or two of no response rather than go through the trouble of re-listing it.

That is exactly what I did with this bench and they immediately took my lower offer. (Makes me wonder how low they would have sold it for!)

I loved the shape and simplicity of the bench. I also have been looking for some things to jazz up our front porch with. Oh- and if you’re wondering, the yellow paint wasn’t there when I bought it. That was me testing out my paint color to make sure I liked it.

All I did was wipe down the wood, let it dry, and gave it a few coats of a paint. It was actually from a sample my mom gave me from when they were trying to decide on a kitchen color. I love inheriting crafty supplies!

The paint color is Sherwin Williams: Anjou Pear. You can also probably see that I gave it a little character by sanding down the edges a bit after it had dried. I figured if this bench was going to be sitting on my front porch, it was going to lose its perfection very fast so I intentionally created imperfection. I used an 80 grit sandpaper and sanded in places that would be naturally worn down.

I love that it brings a pop of color to my front porch. It also goes will with the cherry red mailbox and address numbers I spray painted a few months ago.

I’m still on the hunt for a few more items to fill up the front porch. Hopefully Craigslist will treat me well in the future!