I got some hand-me-down wooden benches with iron sides which were in pretty bad shape. I tore all the wood slats off and then spent an afternoon sawing through the rusted bolts that held the slats to the iron frame. Then I got my hands on some spray paint (which is really lovely stuff) and then went to town on refurbishing the iron sides.
Jeremy took me to a local lumber yard to get some cedar slats and they are sitting in the garage waiting for another block of free time to put it all together. Hopefully, it will be done before I turn 40.