Entryway Bench How-To

 

When I met my husband, Eric, in high school he informed me he belonged to a "band". My husband was the lead "guitarist". The reason I used the quotation marks is because the band never had any gigs, never practiced, and I'm not sure all of them even owned an instrument. Anyway, one of the other members of the band, Big Brad (there's a Little Brad too), who was initially the "manager" and later promoted to "lead singer", not only went to high school with Eric, but they also roomed together in college AND they moved across the country to go to the same medical school. The reason I share this is that I feel like I've known Brad for a long time and consider him one of my good friends. Eric and I got married before moving to Milwaukee, while Brad was still a bachelor. Brad met his sweet wife during medical school, and I was a little nervous meeting her for the first time because I knew if they were to get married we'd be seeing a lot of her. Not just during medical school but for the rest of our lives. Fortunately we clicked immediately, and she became one of my best friends. I love her like a sister. I got a request from her over the weekend to post a tutorial on our entryway bench. So naturally it moved up to the top of the priority list. Here you go, Jana.

I have used Ana-White.com for most, if not all of the furniture I've made for our home.

Here is the link for the plans to this bench.

I picked this bench because our entryway isn't very big and this was small enough that I didn't have to make any alterations to the size.

Ana makes it easy by giving you a shopping list, cut list, and pictured directions. It really makes it doable for anybody.

We don't have a large vehicle so I have Home Depot make enough cuts for me to be able to fit the pieces into my car. If I'm doing a project when it's cold outside I like to have them cut it all. I hate spending time out in our garage making cuts when it's so darn cold!

Ana has the shopping list and cuts on her site so I won't repeat that, but I always come up with a plan on what cuts need to be made to each board prior to going to the store. For some reason when I shop at Home Depot I always feel a little overwhelmed, get a little distracted and as a result can't think as clearly. I'd like to think it's because I have two kids in tow demanding attention. However, I was there on Saturday without the kiddos, and I don't think the kids are completely to blame. Anyway, also make sure you have nails, wood glue, and wood putty.

Another reason I liked making this bench is because it's put together by nails instead of screws so there was no predrilling/countersinking needed.

Refer to the diagrams on Ana's site on how to assemble the bench.

Once nailed together I used a nail set. They are cheap and look like this:

The reason you want to use this is so that you can hammer finish nails below the surface of the wood, to allow for wood putty to be applied. You use it like so.

After the nails are below the surface, you then can putty, sand, and paint your bench.

In Ana's bench plan there is a ledge on the bottom shelf created by the two 1"x2" boards. I didn't want that ledge so I lowered the bottom 1"x2" boards so that they would be flush with the shelf that holds the basket. As pictured below. (You may need to refer to the plans to completely understand what I'm talking about.)

I also added trim around the base to beef it up a bit. I put in on the sides and front:

If you are needing a bench and are a beginner builder this is a great place to start!

This bench cost about $40 in lumber. I had the wood filler, sandpaper, and paint on hand. I also bought the baskets from Target for around $10 to $12 dollars a piece.

Linked to:

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