Farmhouse style church pew before + after

 

We all seem have that thing (or twenty things) that we are looking for.

It might be the perfect long dresser to turn into a buffet.

The missing piece of china to complete the set we have worked on collecting for years.

Or, in this case the church pew.

The pew that eluded me, for so long.

Was finally mine.

Yep, I have been BEYOND excited to complete this before and after and share it with you!

 

 

These can be a little hard to come by, especially since renovating a church is a huge job and expense, and it’s probably not done often.

There is a local Facebook selling site for lovers of all things Shabby and Vintage that I follow.  We post our DIY’s that are for sale and not for sale, and swap and sell treasures and finds.

Some of us paint and sell them, others (yes the others is the category I fall into) seem to be amassing a hoard of epic proportions and will at some point probably begin selling what we refurbish at some point as well.

I remember going to Westside Baptist Church in Yakima, WA as a little girl. The building wasn’t huge or fancy, but there were long wood pews and stained glass windows in the tall peaks of the church walls.

The pews were long, and while I am certain much of the message was far past my understanding, I do remember looking down and seeing white shoes with frilly lace edged socks folded down.  Tan legs and a fair share of scars and scabs from a few too many wipe-outs on my trusty bike.

 

 

I loved sitting next to my Grandma, she had a wonderful posture, and I could always smell a hint of her Chanel No. 5,  saved for special outings.

Such as sitting in our pretty little church in long wood church pews.

My stomach growling, hoping that going out for Brunch afterward would be mentioned soon.

I loved that little church, and while my mind wandered, I was still with my favorite person in the world.

In her favorite place.

 

 

And that was good enough for me.

When I saw a posting last weekend for a free “project” (this is that warning that the piece being sold or given away needs extensive work – not just a paint and enjoy piece) my heart leapt and I looked up from my phone to ask “who wants to go get a free 12 foot long church pew out in the country today?”

The kids thought it sounded like a fun adventure, it took Troy a few minutes to join in as he calculated the driving, the lifting of the church pew into the truck, strapping it down so it doesn’t fly out, and lastly what in the heck will we do with it when we get it here.

Thankfully, everyone shared my excitement, and by 1pm that day, I was the proud owner of my very own church pew.

 

 

Here is the back, yes, there was some demo first.

 

Stock hair Systems

 

I cannot tell you how excited I was.

I knew we needed to shorten it, and while we are still flip-flopping between keeping it on the porch, and using it at our farmhouse dining room table. She is on the porch for now.

And needless to say, I adore this church pew.

When we brought it home it was wobbly, way too long to fit anywhere, and partially covered in thick red velvet-like carpet.

We removed the fabric/carpet, pulled out the staples and Troy cut down the pew to 8 feet long.  Perfect for the porch or the dining room. Or the living room.  Or behind the couch, can you see her floating around too?

 

 

I wanted to paint it white, and I really hoped I could make the backing look like bead board or shiplap.

We went to Home Depot and found bundles of pre-made and perfectly thin bead board sheets of MDF.  Perfect.

 

 

Then we chose a wood scroll for each side, and a small carved piece to run along the top of the bead board.

 

 

Squeal, it was all coming together.

We moved the legs into place, tightened the screws and cut down the bead board planks for the front and back, putting them into place with a electric nail pinner.

Next we put the scrolled pieces in place with the pinner on each end, and the carved strip along the top of the bead board.

And with a couple nice coats of white paint.

And a bit of sanding, my heart was happy.

And all was well in the land with this church pew and it’s new owner.

I used some Howard’s Feed N’ Wax which I love to use over paint after distressing.  It lightly conditions the piece and protects it without spraying a clear coat over it, taking away the faded look we were hoping for.

And this is what we ended up with.

We spent about $32 on the two packages of bead board planks, $12 for the wood scrolls, and $8 for the long carved piece along the back.

Flat white latex paint we already had, and since elbow grease is thankfully free, we ended up spending $52 in supplies.

 

 

Not too bad.

I am so excited how our farmhouse style church pew turned out, and thinking of the meals we will eat as it is pulled up to our dining room table.  Or for now, the evenings talking on the porch watching the kids play, and enjoying a cozy spot to watch the leaves fall and just enjoy being outside before it gets too cold.

So that is the story of how we found, drug home and fixed up our farmhouse style church pew.

I hope this finds you well and inspires you to see things differently than as they are when you come across them.

Oh, and I still have the remaining 4 feet of wood in our garage….I have some ideas on what that will become too!

Please pin and share if you could pretty please?

 

Solid Vinyl Backdrops

 

 

 

Thank you as always for reading friend, I love you so!

 

Stay crafty-

xo, Tanya

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20 Responses

    1. Thank you Katrin!! I think she is going to be moving around as there are about 20 spots in our home I want to have a church pew 🙂 have a wonderful day friend!!

      xoxo

  1. Such a fabulous find Tanya and I love how you have transformed it into a beautiful piece for your home. I’m sure we’ll be seeing this one pop up in many different rooms!
    Thank you for sharing at Create, Bake, Grow & Gather this week. I’m delighted to be featuring your church pew at tonight’s party and pinning and SM shares too.
    Hugs,
    Kerryanne

  2. Simply shabbilicious! I am new here, coming over from Kerryanne’s party! I will be following you now! Come on over and meet me on my blog if you get a chance! Love your blog!

  3. So happy for you to have finally found your church pew, Eureka. It looks great and think your plan “for now” of using the pew on front porch and later at dining room table is a great plan. Where it might be put after that is anybody’s guess if you’re at all like me and get a wild urge some day, lol.
    As you were telling us about what you had done with pew I was wondering what you were going to do with the part you cut off., Hope I get to hear about that.
    Enjoy your new church pew, sure looks better than how you found it.
    In the Spring we found a sturdy wood dresser to make a tv stand with, was $20. Bought paint and casters so could move it easily over carpet, cost almost double what dresser was at thrift store but we love it, me especially, wanted what had been seeing a lot of on blog land. We ended up taking apart old tv stand, making little storage table for craft room. Put two doors with glass together to use to hang on shutter shelf. No waste. Everybody was happy.

    1. Hi Jane Ellen, I absolutely love your idea and isn’t it wonderful to repurpose something that was destined to be trash or discarded? I am still trying to figure out what to do with the rest of the wood from the pew, but you will hear about it as soon as I do friend 🙂 xoxo

    1. Hi Melinda,

      I am part of a few local buying and selling groups around the Portland, OR area. Usually if you search on FB in your area you can find them and request that the admin add you as a member 🙂 they are awesome!

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hi there !!

Welcome to twelveOeight! I’m Tanya and I am so glad you are here. If you are ready to start loving the home you have now, then join me on my mission. One thrifty project at a time we can make our today homes our dream homes.

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