Jay made this bench for me this past winter, but it was his first try and it didn’t fit where I originally wanted it. Not a big deal, though, as the cats really love it. I made a blanket for it that has a piece of chiffon that hangs down in front. Now Chester thinks that she has a tent.

This weekend I put the last layer of polyurethane on the second bench that Jay made me. I wanted something that we could have by our back door. This way you have some place to sit when you put your shoes on, and there’s a shelf under there where I can store more shoes. Considering there are just two of us we sure end up with a pile of shoes by the door!

Here’s a better picture to show you the color of the wood. Isn’t it gorgeous? It fits the spot perfectly and it looks so very cute!

Yes… I still wanted the cats on it.

With everything else going on we are still working on the library. Yes, it’s been a year and I haven’t had a chance to get the woodwork or doors refinished. *sigh*

I did want Jay to get the header board put up, though. The board that originally went over the doorway into the kitchen was broken when I was trying to take it down. I didn’t realize that they had nailed in one side and SCREWED the other side in! Needless to say, after I took the crowbar to it… the wood screamed for mercy and split. Yep. I did a number on it.

Like everything, though, Jay and I had to do it up good and put our own stamp on it.

There was no way that I was going to match the woods perfectly so I tried my best to get an accent color that would go nicely with it. Can you read what it says?

Live Long and Prosper…

I drew the line at putting the Spock hand at the ends of it. In the top picture you can see that we put a flower on each end. This way if you didn’t realize that this is a nerdy Star Trek reference you would just think that it was a nice saying to have in your house.

It really turned out nice, though. I wish that my pictures did a better picture of representing how it looks in person. Once I actually get the rest of  it done then I think that the room will really look great. It is on my list of Things To Do to get the rest of the wood work and doors stripped, refinished, and put back up. I’m tired of tripping over them in my work area of the basement.