Window Seat from Old Door $56

Old Solid Wood Door Not Like the Cheap Doors Around Today: free

Hinges, Triangular Braces, Shop Tools: free due to my kickin' family tree

Spray paint: $6

Particle board: $2

Upholstery Foam: $42

Fabric: $6

I was driving through The Village a few years ago when this door was on the curb for trash pickup. It was sweet ol' Mel Bowman's door. (His funeral was three days ago.) I pulled over and knocked on his front door and asked if he cared if I took it. He didn't.

I had plans to find legs for it to make a narrow harvest table for our patio. Turned legs are expensive, even at thrift stores. I am not going to spend $80 on legs for a free table.

So I asked my sister Cristall to chop it all to pieces in her husband's shop while he was on a camping trip. She's a whiz with the table saw. We trimmed it right up to make a window seat for RE's bedroom and put it together loosely with the old hinges.

Cristall's husband, Harper, is a full-fledged construction genius and he built me some triangular braces to secure everything from the back. If there were a window seat code this thing would pass with flying colors.

RE spray painted it antique white and then we bought a scrap of particle board at Home Depot for $2.01 and had it trimmed to the exact size of the top. This way all her weight only rests on the thick part of the door, not that flimsy middle section. That also got sprayed.

This would have been an $8 project if upholstery foam didn't cost the equivalent of a college education. This piece of 4" foam cost $40 with a 50% off coupon at Jo-Ann Fabrics.

We covered the dreamy, plush foam with some polka dot upholstery fabric I bought at DI for $6. It was just enough fabric to make two slipcovers, which is lucky since I botched the first one and had to make a second one. I'm not kidding- I had half an inch of fabric left after I completed the second slipcover. These kind of things affirm that I'm being watched over. Lucy approves of the 4" foam and is glad we didn't scrimp and get the 3". You'd be surprised how much an inch of foam adds as far as comfort goes. 

RE's bedroom is on the 2nd story of our home and our little lilac bush (that we planted for our 5th anniversary) is now 11 years old and has surpassed the height of the 2nd story. RE can curl up on her window seat with a blanket and read books against a wall of blossoming lilacs. They smell good, too. I can't believe our lilac bush is almost as tall as our house. Crazy.

But not as crazy as an almost-free window seat from a door off the street. I love people's trash!