D.I.Y Refurbished Potting Bench

My garden got a late start this year as in I just finished my raised bed this week, just put plants into the ground and just finished my Potting Bench. We’ve been a busy bunch and it’s incredibly hard to do ummm ANYTHING with two kids. Especially two kids who love to be their mama’s tail!

If you follow my “How the Garden Grows” board on Pinterest you may notice that I’ve pinned way more than my fair share of Potting Benches. I’ve been scouring the local thrift stores looking for the perfect piece of furniture that I could turn into a potting bench. It took me FOREVER. I had a vision in mind!

And then I found it. A writing desk and a hutch that didn’t go together yet went together perfectly.

I instantly knew that I would remove the white backboard from the hutch and replace it with chicken wire. What color I would paint everything didn’t come to me as quickly. I started off with a light grey from Rust-Oleum. Painted the hutch and almost instantly changed my mind. I knew that the potting bench would be against our shed so I decided to get as close to the trim color as possible which means I ended up going with an almond, which is a light beige.

This time, unlike last time I decided to use a primer. The version that I got was not the Painter + Primer in one so I wanted to be safe. Now for walking you through the process!

Step 1–Find it!

Find the perfect pieces for your potting bench at your local thrift store!

Step 2–Prepare your Pieces for  Spray Painting

Clean both pieces as thoroughly as possible. Then sand, if necessary. I used a 120 Grit for light layer removing due to a couple of blemishes that I wanted to get rid of on both pieces. I also purchased 400 Grit sand paper to do a light sanding after the primer coat.

I also removed the backing on the hutch.

Step 3–Prime

Prime your pieces. For this project I needed a can of Primer PER piece. B seems to think that I shouldn’t have but I did. I covered both pieces pretty completely.

Step 4–Paint

Shake, Shake, Shake your can of paint and then paint, paint paint. I used three cans for this project. One for each piece and then the third can for touch ups/ a light second coat. Let dry completely before moving on to the next step.

Step 5–Never Wet

Because this is an outdoor project I knew that it was important to use Rust-Oleum® NeverWetTM Moisture Repelling Treatment system. The Never Wet System works in two parts. Step 1 is a base coat and Step 2 is a top coat. When combined it repels water from numerous surfaces. In this case, wood!

Let dry completely in between stages. You have to let the coats “cure” for 12+ hours before testing it out.

Once you do test it out the water should bead like so:

It’s best to use the Never Wet on lighter surfaces because it can leave a “Milky” residue. I couldn’t noticed on my piece unless I examined it. Here’s what I mean.

See? You can barely see it!

Step 6–Chicken Wire

After measuring my hutch I went to my local hardware store and purchased a piece of chicken wire. I was so excited to hear that they would cut it for me. I used a hammer and nail to attach the chicken wire. Two people for this portion of the project would be nice so they can help keep the wire in place while you nail it down. I used nails that had a bit of a head on them to help keep the wire attached. Alternatively a staple gun would work great for this piece of the project!

Step 7–ALL DONE

After attaching the Chicken Wire I combined the two pieces and I was officially done with my potting bench and oh so damn proud of the job I did! If you think you can’t do this think again! I’m not that crafty and I still made it work. You can too!

And here it is all ready to get dirty!

Rust-Oleum®’s NeverWet® contains breakthrough technology that protects virtually any surfaces with a superhydrophic treatment that dramatically repels  water, mud, ice and other liquids.

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Rust-Oleum® via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Rust-Oleum®.