Before and After: Worshipping at the Church of BBQ

Confession time:  I stepped into a Catholic Church for the first time in 10 years yesterday to take this photograph.  Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Hail Mary!  I promise you, Lord, that I will do better.  That said, let's talk about how beautiful and classic church pews are.  I came across two pews in front of a church a couple of months ago, and I stopped in my tracks.  They were for sale for $100 for the pair.   I knew that they would make perfect benches for our back yard renovation project. 

After studying the benches for a while, I decided that racing stripes were the obvious choice for their revival.  

I have always loved classic hot rod race cars- and what's more American than hot rods + BBQ?  I first sanded, and then primed the benches with an oil based primer.  For the bench base color I chose Benjamin Moore Blue Macaw Exterior Satin paint.  For the racing stripes I used Krylon Banner Red Indoor/Outdoor Gloss paint.

These finished benches provide ample seating and a good conversation piece for our backyard BBQs.  I guess you could say that technically, I still spend a lot of Sundays sitting and spiritualizing in Church Pews....Praise the Lord!

Happy painting

-Nancy

P.S.  If you feel inspired to take on a church pew revival project of your own- try finding pews on Craigslist.  I went on my local (San Francisco) Craigslist this morning and found 10 pews for sale.