Daddy Daughter DIY Bench

If you didn't know, Novali and I like working on projects together. I think I have posted on here about the many projects that we do together. Well lately we have been working on a big project of redoing our breezeway. Heather wanted it painted, and new shelves, and maybe a bench... so I jumped at the opportunity to make a bench instead of buy one.

We embarked on the project, and started shopping for wood and ideas. We always try to find clever ways to use items and do something unorthodox, and save money along the way.

Well our first find was the wood to use... our main wood pieces for the shelves and top and bottom of the bench... pine stair treads. They were a good width, bull nosed, and only $7 each. The pine is soft, but these will be decorative shelves so not worried about them, and the bench will get some wear and tear, but it is a small bench for the kids so it will be fine. We spent another $20 on some trim pieces, pine board for shelves inside the bench and a fiberboard backing to finish the rear. Then we used some oval end caps for stairs to cut in half for feet... In total, with shelves, the wood came to just about $50.

Selecting the best boards for our project.

Novali and I set about designing it. How high would we make it? How many shelves? We looked online at bench height, but wanted a little shorter for Cruz. We tested the height of a step stool he uses and ended on that number. Novali did the math, ideal height, minus thickness of top and bottom, height of feet... bam size of the side and support sections. I like finding ways for her to use math in the real world...

What, you can use math in the real world?

Our custom feet...

Measure twice, cut once... well sometimes cut twice still

Sanding and more sanding.

The hard work thought was in the sanding and staining. We got some Minwax stain, so tack another $15 on the project, but a few bucks for a bag of foam brushes and we were off and rolling. Novali was good at the stain process, got less drips than I did on my side. It took a lot of coats to get the color we wanted, but it helped us develop a nice surface as we steel wooled it in between coats and got it looking really nice.

Starting to stain...

Layer after layer to get it darker...

We wanted a dark rich color...

Novali was a trooper, and even when I could tell she was tired of steel wool, or one more coat of stain (we did 4) she powered through. Here she is proud of our latest DIY, a bench and shelves for under $75 made of solid wood and loved with some elbow grease.

Our DIY Bench.

It was a fun summer project... we wrapped it up a couple weeks ago... yes luckily before the heat hit! I am finally around to posting pics. We just need to finish up the rest of the breezeway and I will post those photos.