Here is the journey of a tired old Craigslist church pew that was given a second chance at life.

It was snatched up from a Craigslist ad for $35.

This piece of ecumenical church history started out as a perch for worshipers and the hearing of the Word. But sadly, it ended up on the porch of an elderly man, exposed to the relentless heat and humidity of Louisiana’s Delta country.

In its lowly state, it had been reduced to a storage facility for various odds and ends and random tools. Most unfortunately, it was stained with the dark, viscous blood of 2-cycle motor oil from the broken innards of a leaking chainsaw.

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Fortunately, my husband rescued it and proudly presented it to me as a birthday gift!

He worked really hard on it and completely disassembled it piece by piece, breathing fresh vision into the ancient oak boards.

I love how it turned out! We chose a Dark Walnut stain so that we could disguise the black blobs from the motor oil, as well as some new boards that we added to replace some of the old ones. Normally I would have shied away from a darker stain, but I love the richness of walnut and it made all the old and new elements come together seamlessly.

Where to put my Craigslist Church Pew?

Since we have had it, my Craigslist church pew has moved around a couple of times. We got it all put back together and stained. Then we put it out on the front porch. Poor thing went back out in the elements! It looked so pretty out there at first, like the quintessential southern front porch! But it didn’t take long for the pollen and freakishly ginormous spiders to move in and take over. Once again, the Louisiana elements made it dirty and scary to sit on it.

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In Its New Home!

Happily, it is now situated in my dining room and I could not be more pleased! It’s the perfect place for it!

So, we got it for a song at $35 and it was in rough shape. It took a good bit of elbow grease to get it back to its former glory. However, I have seen church pews go for as much as $500, so I think we did alright!

Anyone else love the history, tradition and nostalgia of a church pew? Have you used one to decorate your home? We would love to hear about it in the comments!

God bless!!!

~Shanna

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