How to Make a Bench From a Dumpster Console

Welcome to Trashy Tuesday!  You know I can’t resist a good Dumpster Furniture Makeover.  One of my favorite things to make from Broken Furniture is a Bench.

Imagine if you will, you are out on a Saturday running errands and decide to take a usual detour behind one of the big box stores.  There, as if by magic, is a big Console thing sticking out of the Dumpster, just waiting for you.

I pulled the console out easy enough, but I wasn’t too thrilled about the broken glass in the cabinet doors on this thing.  Perhaps part of the reason it was in the dumpster???

I got this thing home and it went into my garage where I expected to live for the next few weeks (months) until inspiration struck.

Sometimes inspiration is Over Night Fed Exed to your door.  The delivery method this time was a National Columnist, Marni Jameson of At Home with Marni Jameson.  Marni is a best selling author of books on Home Decor and Lifestyle.  Marni has a wonderful weekly syndicated column on all things home, decor and family.  Marni had gotten wind of my Dumpster Diving Blog via my amazing journalistic daughter and idea spreading from her California Editor to Marni in Florida.  All in 24 hours.

Marni was super intrigued by my furniture makeovers.   We had a long, fun interview by phone and it was decided Marni would tell my story.  She really needed a good Dumpster Before and Redoux after for print.  No problem right?  WRONG!

I have a been a bad photo steward for some time now and was not saving copies of my original photos. Every single photo I sent Marni was too small!  I started to panic. Here was a great opportunity for press! I had tons of really good Dumpster Dive Before and Afters, but NOTHING was working.  After 12 hours of stressing out, I decided to just throw myself into hyper productivity mode and move that Dumpster Console to the top of the list.  I pulled it together in just a few hours, AND got the awesome full size pics to Marni.

If you want to know how to make a Bench from a Dumpster Console or any other broken cabinet like this, it’s easy!   I started by removing the doors and pulling out the glass.  Here are the tools you will want to use to get all those shards out.  Keep a tough garbage bag nearby and throw it out immediately so you don’t accidentally step on it….

One of the doors was broken on the back (I think this also contributed to their reason from throwing it in the Dumpster).  I used a piece of thin luon I had on hand, cut to size to match the missing piece and glued it in place.

To replace the Glass inserts in the Cabinet Doors, I turned to one of my favorite tricks for filling in cabinet door frames.  More Luon Wood.  I used the same trick with Vintage Stereo Cabinet Makeover, you can check that project out HERE. 

I measured the doors and cut the wood to size.  I used Debi’s Design Diary DIY Paint Brand Dark & Decrepit Liquid Patina to “Stain” the doors.  The Dark Patina is amazing.  It’s all-natural, with no smell.  It can be brushed on and wiped off as an Antiquing Glaze, brushed on an existing stain to darken it, or it can go right over raw wood as a stain.  I used 2 coats to get the look I wanted.

While I was waiting for the wood inserts to dry, I painted the entire Dumpster Console in 2 Coats of 100% Natural DIY Clay Paint in Cake Batter.  DIY Paint is different from other Chalk or Chalk and Clay Paints on the market in that it contains no latex, no acrylic, and the base is primarily Clay.  It’s the only formula on the market with this much pigment, so just a couple of coats of any of their colors will usually do the trick. DIY Paint is also SUPER durable.  The Clay forms a bond with whatever you are painting.  It is such a fun, easy to paint to use, you can achieve literally, 1 billion different looks with it.

If you would like to try out DIY Paint yourself, you can pick some up from me locally at Antique Coop, D8, or I would love for you to check out my online store if you do not have a DIY Retailer near you.

When the inserts were dry, I glued them into the cabinet doors and rehung the doors.  The console was a little short for a bench, and I love to Add Wheels to just about anything I can.  You can see more stuff I have added wheels to HERE.  I turned the entire Dumpster Console upside and added Casters I had on hand from Home Depot.

I sealed the Bench Made from a Dumpster Console with DIY Paint 100% Natural Clear Wax. Buffed it a few minutes later and it was ready with the FULL SIZED pictures.

Talk about working against the clock!  The sun was starting to fade into the afternoon just as I was finishing.  Marni is 3 hours ahead of me and needed those pics!  Panic started setting in as I staged and snapped and snapped and staged.  I am pretty sure I got DIY Paint all over my phone and my Canon Rebel.  If you look closely, you can see the beads of sweat that dried on my head and my hands coated in DIY Paint and Glue. 

I emailed the pictures of the Bench made from a Dumpster Console to Marni just as the clock was closing on her day.  They were received in the nick of time.  The moral of the story here is 2 parts:  #1 ALWAYS SAVE ORIGINAL PHOTOS and #2 Don’t Pass up good broken furniture in a Dumpster!  You never know, you just may need to make a bench out of it.

Update!  The article was published!  It has been everywhere from Arkansas to my own SF Bay Area paper!  Here is a link, hope you enjoy it!   Dumpster Diving Diva Takes Trash to a New Level 

If you liked this makeover and would like to see more of my Dumpster Diving Junk, please subscribe to my posts for the latest!  That way you won’t miss anything I pull out of the Dumpster.