Jeff for America

I found this old wooden church pew upside down on a street corner in my neighborhood last month. It was obviously a bit out of shape, but I saw something worth saving. I had my roommate Becca help me carry it inside and over the next few weeks, managed to remake that old bench into something functional and pretty.

I envisioned my room in sharp, muted primary colors and thought the bench would add something unique to a bedroom. Not sure what I was going to do with it at the time, I headed to our local hardware store and perused some color palettes.  I settled on a deep purple called Prince’s Robe. A funny name, but a nice color. Just what I was looking for. Erika came with me to assist and we ended up also picking up a bronze spray paint for the backing. If you look real close, you’ll notice the backing has a worn-out metal grating with a clover design. I wanted it to pop with the purple, so we thought gold would do the job.

On the way back from the hardware store, I managed to drop the paint bucket on the sidewalk. Damn it. And now there’s a permanent purple haze on the pavement despite our many attempts to wash it down with buckets of water. My neighbors were probably really annoyed/confused. But I figure they just need to get used to me. Might as well start now.

In the end, the project took about 3 weeks and several coats of paint. The end product is just what I wanted. I filled the bottom open space with shoes and named it my official shoe pew – it’s where I sit to put on my shoes. And I guess people can sit there, too. Or pray.

- Jeff