Spring break is over and after spending some time in warmer weather I’m ready to get back to work on my banquette. After cutting, sanding and filling it is now time to paint. I knew I would be painting this piece white to match the rest of my kitchen.  I first added a sheet of plastic to protect my painted floors. The three season porch has become my workroom during this project. Once all my work is done I’m hoping to get my porch back! I lightly sanded all the surfaces, some wood and some laminate, so the primer and paint could grip better. I applied one coat of Zinsser BIN primer sealer and let it dry overnight. I only realized once I was attempting to wash my brushes out that I had used oil based primer by mistake. It still worked fine and I was able to paint my water based…

Now that my tv unit has been chopped up it is time to start recreating it. The first step in turning it into a kitchen banquette bench is filling up any holes left by nail and screws, and then sanding it all down. Giving the entire piece an allover sanding will help the primer grab on a little better as well when it comes time to paint.  I started off by removing all the old hardware. This was a happy step for me. This hardware is so easy to remove that a 5 year old and 7 year old can do it. I should know. I’ve spent way too much time over the past 10 years searching for and reattaching the hardware. Each drawer pull is actually three pieces, the pull, the back plate and the screw. I’m actually surprised I still have all of them intact. I’ve had to…

So the day finally came to put all my ideas and plans into action. My tv entertainment unit was empty, the doors and shelves were all removed. For old times sake I even dusted and cleaned it off. My brother showed up with some tools and we got to work.  We would be removing the top two third’s of this piece from the bottom. It is a large sturdy unit and the future bench will hold up well all on its’ own. We placed some moving blankets under the piece since the cutting would happen right in the middle of my living room. The flying sawdust was not bad at all so no issues there! We started off by removing the back of the unit. It is a pretty thin backing and came off easily since it was only held on with staples. Once it was out of the way…

Before I started taking apart my television entertainment unit in order to turn it into a bench I took some measurements. About 10 times. I needed to make absolutely sure it was the right width, depth and height to make the conversion of the bottom section into a bench. The plan was to cut the two sides and the middle division above the drawers. The section over the top of the drawers would serve as the surface for the bench. This measured to be 15.5 inches high so it  would not be high enough on it’s own. All the benches that I had been looking at ranged from 17 to 18 inches high. The addition of a 3 inch foam cushion would bring the height back up to 18.5 inches,  perfect seating height for a table. The depth of the unit at 22.25 inches at the base was a little deeper than…

A while back I shared with you some images and ideas I had for a kitchen banquette bench. My eat in kitchen is large enough for my round kitchen table and 5 chairs. Even though we have the room for it I haven’t been too happy with the layout for a while. First of all the table fits five people and only five people. I want my kitchen table to work for the whole family, and maybe a couple more on occasion. It is almost 17 years old and still in great condition so I’m thinking of relocating it to the basement as a game table. For now it is constantly moving around the kitchen.  It needs to be pulled away from the wall in order for everyone to fit around it. This means that when the meal is over there are chairs in the middle of my kitchen that then need…