Restoration Hardware inspired work bench

our neighbors had this piece in their back yard.   it reminds me of my old place in w. hollywood.

before married life, i restored a cute spanish-style home in west hollywood.  the previous owners had redone the 1920s home in a very tacky home depot fashion.

pink walls.  cheapo pedestal sinks.  linoleum floors.  so i took it back.  i added arches, mexican tiles, thick choco-cotto pavers, and warm colors.  the bead board cabinets were a stretch, but i loved them.  so there!  i always intended to do something more with the hood, but just never got around to it.  oh well.

after completing the restoration back to as spanish as i could possibly afford, i took a trip to mexico with my friend dave to pick up new furniture.  back in those days, it was safe to cruise past tijuana to buy furniture.  i wouldn’t advise that today!  the furniture in these pix wasn’t mine, but my tenants.  but they had it pretty nicely decorated wouldn’t you say?anyway, we brought back an entire truck full of really cool furniture.  a dining table with chairs, a wood chandelier, colorful porcelain sinks, and a few bar stools.

i sure do miss that little house!  it was so cute, cozy and comfortable. and the garden was incredible.  i once pulled out a 2 lb carrot!  what???!!!

the problem with all that cool mexican furniture was that the little worms and termites started eating away at my floors…

ouch.  that was an expensive lesson!

oh that driveway….it took serious skill pulling in and out of the driveway through the front gate.  there was about 4″ clearance on each side of the mirrors.

anyway, enough reminiscing!  back to the topic.  my neighbors gave me this piece when they moved.

they had their hibachi on it, which burned a hole in the top.   this pic was snapped after i sanded and chipped away at most of the black parts.this Parson’s Restoration Hardware table was my inspiration for the color i wanted to paint it.  i had to do something with the top to cover the burnt hole.  and since this was going to be used in the garage as my new work bench, i didn’t need it to be perfect.  but i did love the color of this RH piece.

i first sanded the piece as it was quite beat up after being outside for a few years.  i smoothed the edges.  then using Annie Sloan French Linen with a splash of water, I painted the piece.  i didn’t use perfect brush strokes.  i just slapped it on.

using the dark wax, i stained the drawer fronts to give the piece a bit of variation.  i considered changing the hardware, but it’s nearly impossible to remove as it’s quite rusted.

i can’t do it captain.  i just don’t have the power! (sorry!!!!)

one coat of paint covered the burnt part just fine.  and i used two coats of clear wax to seal it.  

you can see the wood grain still popping through, which i love.

and the gray, silky patina is so nice against the dark wax stained drawers.

since this work bench is really narrow, i needed a cool place to store all my tools and gear.  so i picked up this vintage peg board from a craigslist dude doubling as a garage salesman.  really, he’s just a hoarder, but i love him and will be digging through his stuff again in the future for sure.

this peg board was $2 and is probably from the 40s.  super rad.

using a mixture of 2/3 napoleonic blue + 1/3 graphite, i mixed the perfect navy blue (thanks, Deb from Peinture, for the suggestion!)

this peg board makes me really happy.  i can quickly grab a brush or tool and not have to dig in a tool box or drawer.  i picked up some hooks at Home Depot and Big Lots.  the Big Lots hooks didn’t fare as well, but some of them were great, and the price was right!

i even have a plastic toy hammer up there to appease the kids.  they’ve got somewhere to store their tools, too!  🙂

what do you think?

if history is any indicator of the future, keeping this piece in the garage will serve me well, and hopefully the worms won’t do too much damage!