DIY-Entryway Bench

So, last time I posted it was literally the last post of 2010.  If you forgot, try this link out David's premier post. To fast forward I have gotten my mount back, and it looks great! The only problem is that it's hanging on the wall of my parent's house because we never have room in the car to bring it back.  I think Elizabeth is scared it will impale Owen in the event of an accident. I told her that it could go in the front seat buckled in and ride shotgun.  Sadly she thought I was joking, but I was being very serious-it might be the only way we all get back safely.

            

Now, to get to today's post, a do it yourself project.  Elizabeth had been wanting some sort of seating piece/storage place for Owen's toys and jokingly found something in Pottery Barn and thought, "hmm that would be nice, but ridiculously expensive."  I looked at it and thought, "hmm that would be ridiculously easy to make, for way less money."  Being the son of two "do it yourself-ers" I thought it would be fun to make.  I have always enjoyed building things and working with my hands and I have my father to thank for that.  I think in another life I might be a carpenter.  It might be easier than this medicine thing.  No, seriously, I love breaking out my drill and level. I spent many hot days in July building/maintaining fences for goats, and then another hot summer working for the Butler County Road Department before starting college. Ironically I spent maybe three days working on a road. The majority were spent renovating and framing a new office for the department along with some other guys. Even more ironic when we go back to Greenville, I ride by that building it looks as run down as the day I left it 8 years ago. Alot of hard work for nothing. I learned alot of things that summer, one of which why I was actually going for a college education.

Wow, I got majorly off topic.  Elizabeth loves that about me, right? not.  So back to the bench.  I based my design around the looks from the one on Pottery Barn and another website I found.  Made basically a hybrid of my own design to fit our dimensions and needs.  Here is what the Pottery Barn bench looks like, in its $499 glory.

I made ours out of MDF, which is exactly what the pottery barn bench is made of. As well as pine 1x4s for the top and bottom. But the total cost of ours is only $75 for supplies. Well, plus the paint but we have to figure out what we really want to do.  This is the first time i have done anything with MDF, but all I can say is AWESOME.  It's great stuff.  Very heavy, great for furniture, very paintable, and just plain looks nice after you cut it.  So, maybe you are saying, "what the heck is MDF?", so try this What is MDF?. 

Once we found the baskets at Target with the dimensions we wanted I designed it around that.  So, call me neurotic but I drew it out to scale on graph paper so I would know exactly how much MDF I would need and what cuts to make.

Now the first thing that is most important to any DIY project is found below in this picture. Well, actually a few things.

A drill? nope. A good saw blade, tape measure, enthusiasm, determination? nope. nope. nope. nope.  Look more closely.  It's this.....

A tall glass of sweet tea.  Covered with your clipboard of course in the event of unexpected bird droppings or floating saw dust.  And of course you need a shady spot and a foreman when you are stuck (Cooper).  Those are the most important things.

Once you have your design, sweet tea, and foreman you are ready to get to work.  This was about 2 hours in when I had finally finished cutting all the pieces and it started coming together.

The problem with DIY projects is that it never goes as planned and sometimes you get frustrated.  Your cut is a 1/4 of an inch off,  your board splits, the sun starts creeping in on your shade, etc.  So you also need a good spot to take a break and think about things.  That spot was the swing, also in the first picture. And equal value as the glass of sweet tea.  

But persistence pays off and at the end of the day you have what he started out after.  Notice the sun had now completely taken over my shade.  It somehow took all afternoon to do this.

We still have to fill in all the screw holes with wood filler, decide on paint, and make a cushion, but the Mrs. was pretty satisfied with it.  We went ahead and moved it into the playroom under the window for the time being.

So there you have it.  A DIY project for next Saturday.  It also puts into perspective how overly priced furniture can be.  So stay tuned for the paint.  This is to be continued....... or I guess, to be paintinued.....