Bench Reveal: Phoning It In

I picked up a great telephone bench (2 actually) and i have finally gotten around to re-furbishing it.
I found it at VV boutique - Value Village to those not in the know - along with all of these items.

Funnily enough, I did this project today, not because I was dying to do the telephone bench... (which I was) but more because I have been in an incredible picture framing mood. One of the items I framed recently was this huge rock band poster. It deserved to be framed simply because it comes with a great story.

First of all, sorry Nic....
:)   LOVE YOU!
Back in the mid 1990s... my hubby (Mo) and our friend Jay went to a 54-40 concert in our hometown. They bumped into our friend Nic, and unfortunately, Nic got a bit drunk. Okay, she got a lot drunk. It all happened a littler faster than she had anticipated, (who hasn't been there?) and even after a walk outside with my hubby, she still wasn't sobering up. 54-40 still had not yet gone on stage. Luckily, my hubby isn't much of a drinker, so he decided to take her home. Just as he was escorting Nic out of the bar, 54-40 finally took the stage. By the time he got back, he only caught the last couple of songs.

Because Nic is one of the most considerate people I know, she felt terrible that she had made him miss the concert. She felt so bad, in fact, that years later, she sent Mo a signed copy of this poster. Both Mo and I are a little fuzzy on the details on how she acquired it, but we suspect that she went to another concert and had the band sign it in lieu of the concert Mo missed. It was such an incredible gesture.

 So how does the telephone bench come back into the picture?
Well, I hung the poster at the top of the stairs, and it looked a bit lonely, and unfinished.
Notice Grey poking his head to see what I am doing - he's such a curious fella.

I couldn't resist but to take a few photos of him.

Anyway, back to the bench - I haphazardly put the bench there because it was the perfect size for the nook. Next thing I know, I am obsessing over putting it all together

The seat is water stained, and the fabric, just plain ugly. Yo mama said you ugly!
Forget about refurbishing... this bench is screaming out for a good cleaning!

I chose a strong black and white striped fabric from Ikea.

Ikea's fabric selection is surprisingly varied, and inexpensive.
This is something I would have never known had I not stopped in there the other day.
Serendipidous?

I taped off the parts of the bench I want to keep - in this case I liked the arborite wood-grain tops.
The mis-matched legs, seat back, and columns needed to be painted in a crisp white.

After re-assembling the bench, some colour needed to be added to pull the yellow from the poster down into the bench. I have a great green-purple succulent, a cool metal bell, and a funky orange blown-glass piece that I put on the top.

Add our extremely colourful collection of Bunny Suicides books to the bottom...

...and you have the finished product!

I really dig the combination.

Thanks Nic for the inspiration!
If I have any of the info wrong, just post below, and let me know the 'real' story. *wink*

Finally, no Wheele House blog post is complete without Grey testing it out.
http://www.desiretoinspire.net/blog/2013/4/8/mondays-pets-on-furniture.html
See him on Desire to Inspire's Pets On Furniture post on Monday.