Three Ikea Chairs = A Bench!

This little Ikea hack was so easy I couldn't resist sharing it with you!
I made a new years resolution at the start of 2012 to get more involved in our community. The perfect chance presented itself in the form of a Chairs for Charity auction supporting the Langley Christmas Bureau. Local shops, craftsmen and bloggers are creating chairs to be auctioned off. We might have bent the rules a little bit and created a bench instead of a chair, but the bench is made out of chairs and when we dropped it off yesterday they said it was just fine . . . phew!

Our contribution was suppose to represent our business/blog style and since our business/blog is all about us, we created a bench that suited our style. And what's more Ashli and Lee than rustic wood, paired with metal, clean lines, a little bit of whimsy and re-purposing Ikea!!!! This bench couldn't be more us, if you were sitting in our laps! ;)

I found 6 Ikea Granas Chairs on Craigslist for $50, they were so easy to find, I literally found 100's for sale on there!

We bought 3, 12 foot boards (6"x1"), and a small container of Gel Stain.
It really couldn't be easier:
First: We removed the woven seats that came with the chairs.
Second: Cut the boards to size, and stained them.
Last: Screwed the boards to the chair using the existing holes from the seats.

As a final touch we added a bit of whimsy in the form of a little "SIT." stencil! I felt like the bench needed a little . . . more. And we're all about whimsy so I went for it and stenciled on a little instruction in case people weren't sure how to use our little bench! ;)

I have to tell you, the stencil was a last minute decision and it was very nerve racking painting onto our perfectly stained boards, but I am so glad we did it!!!! I think it makes the bench!

The last thing we struggled with was whether or not to add a shelf to the bottom of the bench. The way granas chairs are made, with the bar along the bottom, it would make it really easy to add a shelf underneath for shoes or baskets. The shelf underneath would turn the bench into the perfect hallway seat. Somewhere to take your shoes off and store them under! We decided to leave off the bottom shelf so that you could use the bench in the dining room or in the front hall. 

So if you're in the market for a new dining bench, hall bench, porch bench or just somewhere to sit your bum down, our bench will be auctioned off this Thursday Night at  The Passionate Home here in Langley, BC.

In case you were wondering what we're doing with the other 3 chairs . . . we're making a bench of our very own!