Repurposed Wall Unit

Today I am writing about a project we completed last summer.  Do you remember the Broyhill Fontana wall units that were so popular in the 1990s?   After we bought our first house, this was one of our first purchases and I just loved it.  Fast forward ten years and I was stuck with this HUGE furniture that so many other people also had.  It felt like every other house I walked into had a piece from the Fontana collection.  We moved it into our family room when we first moved into our current house.  When we renovated the family room, we gave away the tv armoire.  I thought there had to be something I could do with the side pieces because despite the orange-y hued pine, they were very solid pieces.  Enter Pinterest.  I kept seeing pins of eating nooks people were creating and I really loved the look of them.  I also loved the look of open shelving in kitchens and I desperately needed some more storage.  Thus, my plan to use the bookcases from the wall unit was hatched.  Here is what the original wall unit looked like.  :

We bought 2 30"upper cabinets from Home Depot and used them to create the bench. Next we sanded, primed, and painted everything outside using Rustoleum Heirloom White spray paint.  Then we added a piece of pine for the seat and secured it.  Some new hardware and we added a ton of storage to our kitchen utilizing mostly things we already had.  I still plan to add a cushion, but it is nice to be able to wipe down the bench when needed (3 boys...need I say more?).

Finally, here's a shot of our bench at Christmas time.  It's been fun changing the pillows with the seasons.  We also repurposed that round pedestal table using some stain and more heirloom white spray paint (love that stuff!).   I liked to play musical furniture so that table isn't currently in that spot ;)  I will be posting more pictures of the kitchen in the next few days so that will show where we are at (for now anyway).