Football Themed Bench

Down...Set...Hut...Hut!!  I've got a great game plan for a football themed painted bench.  

Finished Bench

This past summer I surprised my ten-year old son with a bedroom redo while he was away at camp.  He had grown so much that his feet dangled off the end of his twin bed.  It was high time for a full-size bed and a new theme.  He's very much into football (Go Texans!) and wanted that as the general theme for his room.  It came together like a well executed play...well, once we finally got all the IKEA furniture put together.  We purchased a full-size low profile bed and a console table (with baskets) for his "dresser".  He can sprawl out on the new bigger bed and the cubbie baskets allow his clothes to be easily organized.  The clean lines of the new furniture give the room a fresh modern feel.

We had this simple white bench in his room prior to the redo.  It also worked with the new design as is because we had a few white accents in the room.  But it's been sitting there calling out to me, "Paint me."

As I stood cheering on my son's football team, the white lines of field stood out to me and I thought about that white bench.  I wondered how easy it would be to tape off "lines" and add number stickers before painting the top of the bench green.  In my mind, I would remove the tape and numbers to reveal the white below and a football field bench would be born.

Step One:  I found the center of the bench and placed a piece of tape cut to 4" as my 50-yard line.  I measured over 3" from the outer edges of center tape and placed long pieces of tape edge to edge.  I measured 3" over from that piece of tape for the 40-yard line (short piece cut to 4"). Repeat long pieces then add short pieces for 30-yard line.  I added numbers (stickers I had on hand) for the yard-line markers.  In hindsight, I wish I had traced numbers on (using same technique as chalkboard project) after painting bench green because paint bled under stickers and I had to fix numbers with white paint pen.  

I actually removed the long piece of tape along top edge of bench because I wanted the green paint to extend to edge. 

Step Two:  I painted the bench with 2 coats of acrylic craft paint (FolkArt - Fresh Cut Grass...how appropriate right?).  I allowed this to mostly dry before removing tape.

The tape was easy to remove but the number stickers were a little tricky.  I ended up making a few scratches in the process but nothing that couldn't be touched up.  The paint also seeped under the stickers so I used a white paint pen to touch that up.

Although there may have been a couple of fumbles along the way, I recovered and the project came together.  It gives Ethan's room that little extra pop of interest.  Now that I made it to the end (zone), I'm gonna go do my victory dance!  
This project could easily be modified to any sport theme that coordinates with your child's room - basketball, baseball, soccer...  No matter what you decide, go BIG or go HOME!!