This garden bench had good bones. It just needed some paint and the boards refreshed and I knew just the way to do it.

First of all – the paint. Our Missouri Limestone Paint Company chalk-style paint is perfect for the cast iron metal on this bench. It actually only took one coat of our gorgeous dark green color called “Evening Shade”. It also needed no sealer. Our chalk-style paint, when used on metals like this, cure naturally with the heat and the sun baking it in.

Yes, we ship!!! You can purchase all of our 45 colors in 16 oz. jars through our online distributor, Connie Mathews of Winston Home Designs.

The whole project took less than two hours, even when you have a cute little helper. 🙂

Next – the wood. The wood was in really good shape, just bleached out and dry. Wise Owl Salve in White Tea scent to the rescue! We don’t sell this product ourselves, but I love it and have used it to rehydrate wood and as a sealer on several projects. It comes in several wonderful scents! I purchase mine through a fellow painter in Massachusetts. I was fortunate to meet Sarah, of the Princess and the Peacock, while on a trip to visit my cousin, who lives about 30 minutes from her shop! I’ve linked her name to the Wise Owl Salve section of her online shop.

I tried to show in the photo below the difference the Salve makes in bringing the wood back to life!

The Salve is so easy to apply, then let it soak it, and buff. And Yes, you can use it on furniture left out in the weather, and we do have some weather here in Missouri. The bench may need a reapplication of wax down the road, but it only takes a few minutes so that isn’t a problem.

And that is all there was to it. This bench now looks almost brand new and holds a prominent spot in my front yard under the trees.