My Hallway Bench is Much Improved

Mind you, it's still not very cute.

But to be fair, it was never created to be cute. It was created to be somewhere to sit whilst putting on one's shoes, and to host plenty of storage for annoying cold weather accessories during the annoying cold weather.

And it works great at both those jobs!

It didn't even need a cushion added to make it comfortable, because it was fine. It was just your bog-standard bench, you know? Anyway, you only sit there for a couple of minutes at a time, and then off you go to sit somewhere more interesting.

HOWEVER, Matt made the bench seat from 2x4s, arranged as slats with just the smallest bit of spacing between them. The spacing is just wide enough for every spec of crud in the known universe to wedge itself between them, and just narrow enough that I could never for the life of me figure out how to clean it all out.

Therefore, in true Southern Gothic style, I figured that if one can't fix something, one should instead simply cover it up and just pretend like the rot doesn't exist.

Enter this equally disgusting piece of high-density foam that I have been hoarding for several years!

I don't really know why it's this gross--it's literally just a surplus piece from a giant piece of foam that I bought once upon a time to remake the cushions on our old dorm sofa. 

Okay, wait. I actually might have a bit of an idea...

Whatever. You know what I always say: just cover it up!

And now my hall bench still isn't the cutest, but it IS tidy and guests can sit on it without worrying about getting a staph infection.

Also, I have too many aloes and inch plants. Do you want some?