Ever heard of the 5 year plan?

And I'm not talking about a car loan either.

Ever bought anything for your home and five years later, it's still not done? Our shed (old chicken house) is full of 'stuff' that seems to be on the five year plan. The following is one such project that turned into a five year plan, maybe a six year plan. We're not sure of the exact time we got started with this one.

Long before the back porch was renovated, long before the basement was renovated, long before the endless powder room disaster, er, renovation, the hubbie and I were at an auction in Buckeystown held by Mike, the flamboyant auctioneer. Most everything was junk. Even the $2 box lots weren't moving, but the people watching is always a cheap date.

In between cheap veneer computer desks and a hospital bed, there was this sad, old iron baby crib. It had several layers of paint chipping off of it. The latest was what we dubbed "l'il Devil Red". Must've scared that baby witless to wake up with blood red bars holding him back from the world. The crib was a no sale and I pushed hubbie whispering "Offer a $1." I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it and little did I know it would be at least five years before my plan would come to fruition!

Just as soon as the porch was renovated (which I was sure was going to start happening at any moment, ha), the crib, once rehabbed, would make a cute little sofa/settee for a cozy reading spot.

L'il Devil Red crib went in the shed to wait it out. At least a year goes by...

Porch still not done...

Nope, not yet...

Ah, porch work has begun!

Now it's time to dig out the L'il Devil.

Countless home improvement shows lie to us telling us we can just take an old piece of metal furniture to an autobody shop where they'll sandblast it and paint it on the cheap. Not only will no place in my county do it, but I was also advised that I wouldn't want paint meant for a vehicle in my home if I had any furniture finished with it since it would be highly toxic to breath the fumes.

After asking some friends where they had their old tulip lawn chairs stripped, they suggested we call a headstone company. Yes, a headstone company. After all, the images, names and dates are all sandblasted into the stone and they could sandblast the paint off the crib, couldn't they? Hubbie dropped L'il Devil off and got a promise that they'd get to it over the weekend.

And another year (at least) goes by...

Headstone companies are, sadly, busy places. We were sure L'il Devil had gone off to die. Practically gave up on it.

Somewhere in there, in a fit of optimism, I had bought a baby mattress (which also went into the shed) and a vintage handsewn barkcloth daybed cover(I could've just passed out cold when I found this) at Lucketts.

Finally, hubbie tries one last time to spring L'il Devil from exile and they promise us one final time that it will be done the very next week. Well, lo and behold, they made good on that promise with profuse apologies and wouldn't accept payment for it because of the crazy time frame.

L'il Devil cleaned up nice. Over the holiday, hubbie painted it and we brought it inside where it will no longer be known for its scary red hue, but as a place to relax. Of course, Sozo kitty found it in about 30 seconds once we had the daybed cover on it. If you're ever in the neighborhood, come on over and sit a spell.