The Bench to be

I love benches for so many reasons. They are super versatile and can fit in any small space and still look good. I got around to building this bench because I needed something durable and on a budget for my alterations boutique. I had a specific style I was going for in the lobby area and buying a couch to match the style was out of the question. And so my hunt for the perfect bench begin only to find out that it wasn’t that much less then the couch. So that’s when my creatives senses kicked in and I had this wild Idea to built it myself.

This bench has a pretty funny story behind  it. When I told my husband about it. He chuckled and said “hunny.. you always have the craziest ideas.” I don’t think he realized I was actually serious about it. The next day I made a trip to home depot.  I came into home-depot and went straight to the lumber aisle.  When a gentleman came up and asked what he could help me with I simply explained I needed 2×4’s. So he pointed me in the right direction. I also asked him if he could help me pick out the straightest ones they had because it was for a bench I was making. After showing him an example, he went on explaining to me that if I was to stain it it wouldn’t soak in correctly. I assured him I knew what I was doing, or at least I thought I did. 😀 LOL

Back home..

When I got home my husband questioned why I bought all those 2×4’s. After telling him once again he told me not to touch them because they’d get ruined.  Yep I hit quite a few brick walls with this bench.. but HEY that didn’t stop me. lol  I didn’t say I wasn’t going to touch the 2×4’s  I just stood quietly and smiled at him. So when he left to run errands I quickly took out the miter saw and started measuring.  After drawing out the plans I cut all the pieces out and lay them upside down to start screwing all the pieces together.  If you look at the picture below that is pretty much what it looked like when my husband arrived back home. Upon his arrival the first thing that came out of his mouth was “huh that actually kinda looks like a bench.”  Lol I couldn’t stop laughing. It took this much to prove that it’s possible. (who knew 😀 )  Then my lovely husband went on by helping me screw all the pieces together. 😀 Once he was finished he assured me that without him this job wouldn’t have been possible...YEP I know, ” I  said”.  😀 What would I do without you? 😀 LOL. No but.. seriously my fingers were going numb. I pre-drilled holes for each screw and I still had a super hard time screwing the screws in. “Thank you sweety 😀 ”

Staining 2×4’s

I have to say the staining process went a lot better then I expected. I wasn’t expecting the stain to soak into the wood at all. After all I’ve heard from everyone.  I did caulk all the cracks and holes with a wood puddy before staining. Once dry I sanded it down a bit and went on with the staining process.

The stain I went with was this special walnut. I wanted a stain that was noticeable enough but not to dark.  I did have to stain it twice because the first coat didn’t look dark enough for what I was aiming for. Keep in mind the more coats of stain you use the darker it will be.

This is what the bench look liked right after the staining process. Not dry yet. After it dried overnight I applied one coat of polyurethane in the satin finish.

So Sorry!!

Now I am going to apologize in advance. Unfortunately I did NOT take pictures of how I covered the bench because I was in such a rush to finish it. I used  regular plywood from homedepot cut to shape for the bottom of the bench. Then I purchased 2.5″ foam from Joanns and the fabric I used was another journey I went on.  I couldn’t find any fabric that had thick stripes like I wanted so I purchased two different types of upholstery fabrics and sewed the strips together. Talk bout being picky. lol I figured if I’m going to put this much work into it might as well be super picky.. 😀 I purchased the little upholstery tacks from homedepot and hammered them along the edges right into the plywood. I used a ruler to make sure they were even because it was super noticeable if they weren’t.  To finish it off I had my hubby find the perfect length screws to screw the top to the bench and that was it.

Conclusion

All in all I have to say it turned out way better then I expected. It stained pretty well , gave me the right amount of rustic, and after a year of constant use it held up pretty darn good.  Still just as sturdy as the day I built it. 😀 Thank you for joining me on this DIY journey. It was a great experience and if you decide to journey out on your own ” bench diy ” adventure then don’t forget to tag me on Instagram. I would love to see it.

PS. I’m not a carpenter and never took a class of any kind for wood work. So this could be done by anyone. Anything is possible if you put your mind to it and a dab of elbow grease ;D

Notice the wood isn’t super shiny. Yes that’s how it looked after only one coat of satin polyurethane. Just the effect I was aiming for.  LOVE IT>>

My newest addition to my lovely home is this lovely Nate Berkus area rug. I am absolutely in love with the modern/tribal look it gives although if you notice any debree on the floor it is probably because it sheds quite a bit.  (LOVING the wallpaper??  I created this beautiful wallpaper on a 14ft long wall for only $6 dollars you can view the DIY here.)

Here’s a cute pinnable to pin to your favorite board. 😀 Till next time my lovely craftohalics.