I an so very happy with the way that the benches have turned out that we are picking up another one for a friend. It is raining benches here.
Bench #1 is a gift for a friend. She always is on the lookout for furniture for me and is super creative. I have shared her dining room and fireplace with you. I found her headboard/ footboard at a local thrift store garage sale. It was $10.00. The color is an oops paint I bought cheap.
We tried to make all the benches about 18 inches deep and chair height.
We put a center support in this one because the plywood top had to be cut to fit in the space between the legs. All together it cost about 17 dollars to get this put together.
The steps for all the benches are about the same.
Cut the footboard into two pieces. For double beds and larger a section has to come out of the center of the footboard.
Build a 2X4 frame for the seat to rest on.
Attach the 2X4 frame to the headboard then attach the footboard pieces to the sides. With wood glue and very long screws. It took 4 inch long countersunk screws and pre-drilling the holes to get this part done.
Fill all the holes, gaps, and cracks with wood filler. Yay for wood filler. It cures a multitude of sins.
Sand, prime and paint.
Attach the bench seat with the air nailer. Fill the holes, touch up the paint.
Bench #2 was made the same way except for the seat. Hubby cut 1X4’s to length for the bench on the chop saw. I was busy painting but ladies a chop saw (compound miter saw )is something that any woman of average strength can use. After the boards were cut and sanded, I stained them all dark walnut.
It started as this set:
We added a frame once cut.
Here is the progression of the wood slats.
I learned to use the sprayer on this one, even though I am showing pictures of Hubby spraying. He was teaching. It is going to be a bench that a friend asked me to make. She specified red. One of my Facebook friends suggested Red, red wine by Behr. I really like the color. Red, but not bright. Not too orange and not too maroon.
I liked it so much, I am painting bench number three the same color. Bench #2 was a little more expensive than I wished. looked for a specific headboard shape. That meant paying $40.00 for the bed when we actually for it. Too much in my opinion, but all together the bench was about $57.00, still cheaper than a new bench and a lot more unique. Here is the finished product.
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