Privacy Wall/Storage Bench Tutorial

The second part of my summer patio project was a little more difficult than the first one I did, my Refinished Potting Bench.

You see, one corner of my enclosed patio is a “junk pile” – the location of the air conditioning unit and the spot where I keep broom, shovels, plant stakes, etc.  I hate looking at it and have always tried to think of some way to hide it.

Then two ideas came together to get my wheels churning for a solution. First, the bench I acquired when my sister downsized, and my intention to take every possible opportunity to use up supplies and materials I have on hand before I buy anything new.   Here’s the result.

I’m going to step through what I did although I won’t necessarily SHOW you how I did it, for two reasons. First, I sometimes forget to take in-process photos.   Second and more importantly, it’s like making sausage – you like the end result but you really don’t want to see it being made.  My techniques are sometimes messy and hit-or-miss so I wouldn’t want you to follow my lead! 

Here’s the bench.

When I took a good look at it, I noticed the back panel was cardboard, so that had to go. I wanted my unit to be easily movable, and as luck would have it, I had a set of casters from some other long forgotten project.  I had to add some plywood on the bottom of the unit to make it sturdy enough for the casters. 

I then sorted through all my left over wood pieces from various household projects, most of them baseboard trim from some remodels.  I laid the pieces out to fit the back of the bench, braced them on the back and glued and nailed them all together.

Next steps: Primer coat and first paint coat.

I decided to use glazing with the cream color paint over the blue layer on the back wall and part of the bench.  It’s not real visible in the photos, but it’s there.  

Once again I used these cabinet knobs that I got in a garage sale a while back.

 I wanted to hang some planters but I didn’t have any more garden pots to use.  I’m a semi-collector of tins so I grabbed these, two of them chocolate chip cookie tins from Doubletree Hotels that I acquired back in the day when I traveled for business.  Do the Doubletree Hotels still give out free cookies and milk?

 I used hammer and nail to put holes in the sides and used twine for hangers. 

 I'm going to use the storage bench for garden tools and miscellaneous supplies. That's sand in those buckets; I read once that you can keep your tools from rusting if you stick them in sand.

And there you have it.  My only expenses: an extra piece of plywood for the backing and four small black wastebaskets from the dollar store.

My privacy wall/storage bench is doing what I wanted it to do: it hides the mess and it's pretty to look at.  And that makes me happy!

Have you seen its companion: Refinished Potting Bench?

Linking up: My Repurposed Life.