In Praise of a Church Pew for Home Decor
How many of you have spent hours of your life sitting on a hard church pew?
*raises both hands*
I wonder at what point someone said, “Hey! You know what would make the dear preacher’s long sermons even better? A cushion for this pew.”
I would have added cup holders too and I don’t mean those itty bitty ones for the communion cup. But no one asked me!
I recently got stuck in the purgatory I affectionately refer to as Facebook Marketplace in search of a church pew to use as decor in my home.
Who knew there were so many church pews for sale?
Ironically, I didn’t want the cushy, padded church pews. Those don’t have the same character as the hard, unforgiving church pews of my youth. Although, I did like it when those church pews had been dusted and you could slide right down them if your parents didn’t catch you taking a run at it.
Here are some church pews I considered buying: (Please note I’m not linking them because they will be sold by the time I publish this post.)
The below church pew from Massachusetts was out of my budget at $485.
However, it had a reversible seat back. Have you ever seen such a thing?
The seat back is on a hinge of sorts, so you can change the direction the pew faces without moving the pew itself. I’m not entirely sure why you would need this, but the hardware is cool. If you went to a church that had this type of pews you must let me know how your church used them!
The next church pew was from Connecticut and was only $45.
It was more ornate than I expected from a church pew, which is one of the reasons I liked it. My best guess is that the painting on the pew back was not original, but I could be wrong!
This red-hued pew was located in Pennsylvania and was very utilitarian in design.
Do you notice how the ends have different designs? I wonder if the pew was built to go up against a wall? Or built to be pushed together with a second pew?
It was priced at $80.
This next church pew was also from Pennsylvania and was priced at $100.
The picture is not great, but I absolutely adored the detailing on the end of the pew. I’ll be embarrassed if the swoop-y part on the top is a religious symbol I’m unaware of, but it reminded me of a seashell or a plant.
I have no idea how old that pew is, but it would have taken some time to create!
The last stop on today’s journey through the land of discarded church pews is this beauty from Virginia.
It was priced at $350 and I gladly would have paid that much because look at those legs. I coveted them and I’m pretty sure that’s a sin.
If I’m going to sin, then I’m going to make it count and covet that seat back too. Do you see the vertical planks and then the pegs at the top? Praise the craftsman.
It occurred to me during this Facebook Marketplace search that it would REALLY stink to find a church pew, but not be able to fit it in the back of my SUV. I can’t drive home from Virginia with the back of my SUV open.
Or can I?
No. That would be bad.
The reason why I wanted a church pew for home decor is specifically for the under-the-seat storage that some of them have. However, after more thought, I determined what would be even better is a storage bench with a hinged top similar to a piano bench.
While I would not turn down a church pew for home decor purposes if one fell in my lap like manna from heaven, I’m happy that I came up with a better idea for our needs.
The only thing left to do is to convince Handy Husband to take apart our extra piano bench (yes, we have an extra) and use the legs to build a bench in the right dimensions for our space.
So…is bribing your own husband a sin?
All church pew photos in this post are from Facebook Marketplace.
Thank you for being here today. If you have a church pew story I’d love to hear it! While you are thinking on that, here are some other posts you might enjoy.
DIY Bench (Handy Husband already made one bench, but it doesn’t have storage.)
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