Primitive Old-Upcycled Bench "Cramer"

We need to remember that our generation did not invent upcycling.  It used to be a way of life.  Nothing was thrown away or wasted.

This primitive bench started life about 120 years ago as a plush Victorian settee.  Somewhere along the line the fabric probably wore away and someone just removed the fabric and foundation underneath.  It was replaced with old crate pieces.  The family owned a general store in a little town, so they just used what they had -- and that was crates.  What we do with pallets today, they did with fruit and produce crates then.

I loved the different colors and types of wood that were used.  The foundation of the original settee was oak, but many types of wood were used from the recycled wood that was added for slats.  I accented this a little more by using some dark stain on a few of the slats.  I added a thin coat of satin poly over everything for protection of the piece, and to protect people from some of the rougher boards that had been used.

One of the boards in the seat had the name "Cramer" stenciled on it, so I am naming the piece Cramer.

I am running low on furniture stored up to restock my booth when something sells.  I had just finished working on this piece on Monday.  Wednesday I got a call that a big piece had sold. So I took this in on Thursday. The first customer who spied it bought it, but I did manage to get a picture of it with a member of it's new family.