Before & After : Bench Turned Toddler Table (+ a $100 Gift Card Giveaway c/o Glidden!) (Kayla Aimee Writes)

I am constantly in the middle of a project around here, much to my husband’s chagrin. He’s the type of guy that likes to carefully plan out a project and then meticulously see it through to completion. I, on the other hand, tend to think up random DIY projects and drag furniture out onto our back porch to drill and paint on a whim. I prefer to call this “creative genius” whereas he likes to refer to it as “utter chaos.” I have no idea what he is talking about.
That is how this little bench that has been in my family for as long as I can remember ended up on the back porch. Because Glidden asked if I wanted to paint something and that’s basically like asking me if I want to eat chocolate. OF COURSE I DO. I want to paint ALL THINGS.

This bench included because it was sorely in need of a fresh coat of paint and I really like Glidden paint, as evidenced by the fact that I painted my entire kitchen with it. (Plus, they offered a pretty sweet gift card giveaway for one of my readers and I love those.)

This bench is at the perfect height to serve as a table for my toddler so I currently keep it in the office where she can color or do play dough or read books for quiet time while I am working. Ideally. It’s never actually quiet, it’s more like “I COWORING DIS HEART! I WIKE HEARTS! DO YOU WIKE HEARTS BOB? OH YOU DO? YOU DO WIKE HEARTS? I WIKE HEARTS TOO BOB!” Bob is her imaginary friend. He’s a tomato.

Anyhow, painting the bench a fun color has been on my to-do list for quite some time. Also on my to do list is to paint the office closet, which is my plan for the rest of this can of paint. Here is what it looked like before:

I chose to use the Glidden Duo paint because it is a paint primer. I hate priming and I enjoy efficiency. I made a pinterest board with some color inspiration since I knew I wanted to use the paint in two places and then I just walked into Home Depot and picked the closest swatch from their simplified color palette. The simplified palette makes it easy to choose a color because there are not a ton of varying shades to pick from, everything is already narrowed down to the most desirable colors. I ended up going with Aqua Chintz in Eggshell so that I could easily wipe off sticky toddler fingerprints.

I ended up doing several coats on the top to make it a slightly more concentrated color than the legs of the table for a semi-ombre-ish look. Here is the after photo:

Confession: This is just a staged after photo because the place where I actually keep this little table is impossible to get a full shot of because of the small size of the room. It’s a tight squeeze in here, y’all. Here is what it looks like in action on a typical day in my house. Please notice how my child is coloring on her fingers rather than the large doodle pad laid out before her.

It turned out really cute and I think it will be like a little surprise to have the inside of the closet be the same color. Especially because I have yet to tell my husband about this plan. Here are some of the inspiration images I pinned before starting this project: Follow Kayla Aimee’s board Brought to you by Glidden Paint on Pinterest.

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