1 DIY: Build a Bench

Yesterday I Instagram-ed this photo. It was me sawing a table leg. I was building a bench.

Well this is nothing new in the DIY world. It's been done and done again but doesn't mean I won't make one. Only cause it's super duper easy and everyone's bench can look completely different.

Actually, building a bench was suppose to be the husband's task, he said he wanted to do it! That was two/three years ago when we first moved into this house. That was also when he was still just my boyfriend. Well boyfriend/husband never ended up doing it. He did, however, go with me to Fabricland and he picked the fabric for the bench.

He wasn't very adventurous as you can see, but I guess I like that it is a pretty classic choice. Should fit in nicely in any space, right?

I said making this bench was easy, this is mostly because I already had everything to work with. My ideal DIY projects consist of me not having to buy materials. Yay!

Wait, I lied, I had to go buy a saw for this. But that doesn't count, a saw is a tool, and the tool will be used for other projects in the future =P

I already had four painted white legs. They were originally table legs that I used in a (failed) table project (that I never shared). Well that table has since been redone, and it's fabulous now. The four legs were put aside until yesterday I decided it was time to saw them down for my bench.

And I had a scrap piece of wood thing that was the perfect size to be the bench seat. It was a piece from my Ikea headboard that I took apart (to make the fabulous desk mentioned above). This was a hard sturdy piece, which is important if we're going to be sitting on it.

And then I had this old pillow. We had a million old pillows earlier this year until the husband (then fiance) went on this pillow purge and made me throw them all out. Out of maybe 7-8 pillows I begged to just keep one. So the stuffing came in handy here, because surprisingly the stuffing in this pillow was less like stuffing and more like layers of fluffy batting. Yay.

Steps were simple so I won't go into huge details. I sawed the legs to the right height. I glued them into place on the seat with wood glue, then I drilled two long screws into each leg to really secure them to the board. I wrapped the batting around the seat and then with a staple gun I secured my striped fabric on the underside, making sure the stripes are straight. 

In the finished photos below you can see I added a white trim around the bench. This made the bench extra sturdy. But mainly for me it was to polish off the look, without the trim it just looked really incompletely.

What do you think? I think later I should spend a few minutes to retouch some of the white paint on the legs, but you can't see the marks in the photos. Other than that I am pretty happy with it! In the process it was a good arm workout sawing the legs and the trim (without an electric saw)! Hmm I might even consider dipping the legs one day, maybe, we'll see.