Salvation Army Victory Bench

One of our very first purchases for Grafton was our entryway bench and cubby shelf thing.  It was great and held a bunch of our junk for a year, but one day, something switched in my head and I decided I hated it.  The bench and the shelf and their stupid selves had to go.  I don't like how dark they are, how plain the stupid storage cubbies are, and how small it looks on the wall.  Plus, when we removed it to paint, the shelf part got a little messed up and isn't 100% secure anymore.

Since we don't have an actual entryway/foyer or coat closet, I felt like it should all look nicer since that's what someone immediately is confronted by when entering our shack.  During my countless hours spent wasted on Pinterest, I came some inspiration which I, of course, can't find now, but this Pottery Barn example will do:

So, Mission: Hunt Down a Giant Bench commenced.  I really did nothing active to find one since it's hard to convince someone we need to spend money replacing something we already have and technically has nothing wrong with it except for earning my sudden and unrelenting distaste.  But when everything falls into place like destiny, who can resist?

A fun back story to set this all up for you: A couple years back I needed an oil change and took my trusty Ford Focus in to our local dealership.  While waiting, John and I perused the sale lot and couldn't help but notice how much nicer the new Focus looked and how nasty his old Toyota Yaris was and how much nicer he'd look tooling around town in an SUV.  To keep a short story short, we ended up going home with two new cars.

Fast forward to a month ago, we find ourselves at the same Ford dealership, this time with a small repair on John's Escape, and back out wandering in the lot.  Of course, they updated the body on the Focus again and I started getting that feeling... and we immediately left and walked over to the Salvation Army next door.  Lo and behold, right in the front, we come across a gorgeous bench that would be perfect for our entry way.  We're circling it and talking and trying to decide if it's too big or too expensive and maybe we'll just wait until 25% off everything Wednesday, but notice some older woman is also eyeing our bench.  Then we start feeling a little territorial and decide, yes!  We'll take the bench!  But... this kindly woman informs us her brother also wants it and she sent photos to him and he's still trying to decide.  What to do??  John was leaning towards letting her take it, but in my usual ruthless ways, I decide, we're here, he's not, we've decided, he hasn't.  Apparently, the rule at Salvation Army is whoever rips off the tag and takes it to the cashier first wins.  With a swipe of John's hand, the bench was ours.

Ta da!  New bench!  Aren't you jealous of our awesome shoe storage?...

Now I'd like to add a long shelf with hooks along the back, maybe try some sort of wall treatment, add a couple pillows, and find some baskets like the PB inspiration photo for storage.  It seems every time we accomplish something, ten more things to do pop up in its place.

Elliot loves it.  Just kidding.  Elliot only loves himself.