What once was Old, made New!

I bought a porch swing for my mother about fifteen years ago. The manufacturer pointed out that you did not have to put a finish on it. They assured the buyer the wood would acquire a lovely gray patina.

I think those instructions were meant for a swing that was really residing on a porch. Our was under the eves of the storage shed. The wood took on a life all its own in the Pacific Northwest rains. It got a finish on it that looked very much like 'scabs' on an apple.

Over the years we power washed it. We finished it with deck finish. Eventually, this year, its right arm began to buckle and I did not feel it was safe any longer for us to depend on it not breaking with a load and dumping its occupants on the mosaic gravel-work below.

This is a picture of it off in the distance.

I don't like to toss things, so the old bench was given a new life.

It was sanded and painted with exterior house paint (this is the color of the trim on our house).

Then I gave it two coats of sealer for good measure.

The arm was still wonky and we were unable to repair it, so hanging the swing back up was not an option. 

There was a new place in the garden that I felt needed a bench - right across from the bird feeding station. We felt if we placed the bench on foundations blocks filled with minus gravel, that it would work. Because it was a porch swing, the bottom was rounded. This made it necessary to put some 2x2 legs on it, just to keep it level on the blocks, not to hold it up.

The second thing I had contemplated was the redo of a mosaic piece in the garden. I had built is once in the past, but not used any type of sealer, so the glass stones moved, flipped out when tread upon and grew pockets of moss over the years. 

I picked up the iron form, cleaned up the area, put down new minus gravel, then put the iron back down with garden staples.

The foundation blocks for the bench platform with the iron work in front.

Bowls of glass bead wait to be installed.

The beads installed. In the process of injecting the sealer.

It goes on 'milky,' but dries clear.

I used a turkey flavor/butter injector.

It made the sealer very easy to control and pen-point where I wanted it.

The finished piece up close.

The beads are all stationary and won't be going anywhere in the future.

The bench installed with its lovely mosaic accent piece in front.

Another garden project completed!