Love The Tompkins: Building a Built-in Bench.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Building a Built-in Bench.

My breakfast nook area has an awkward space inhabited by nothing, but it was screaming for a built-in bench.

See what I mean?

Pull a table up to it and throw in a few cute chairs and BAM! Perfect breakfast nook.

I knew it destined for greatness the moment I laid eyes on it.

I was poking around some of my favorite blogs and I found this wonderful highlight on The Woodgrain Cottage, where they added a fabulous built in bench to their breakfast nook.

So, I measured my negative space, decided on the dimensions I desired for the bench and purchased my materials.

Once I pried off the trim on the back wall, the quarter round on all three sides and The grate on the return vent, I constructed the supportive frame from 2x4's. Note: I made sure that I left space for the return vent.

Next I attached the MDF to the front and fit the internals of the return vent to the front of the bench.

I then attached MDF to the top of the bench, attached the trim and return grate.

I put the quarter round in place and painted the bench.

I have to say, I was REALLY nervous before I did this project! I was so sure that it would end up completely useless and lopsided! In hind sight though, this project was totally wood shop 101. It was a lot less intense than I originally thought and I'm so glad that I went through with it. I love the result! now all that is left to do is wait on the wall paper to arrive ( it should be in this week, I'm on pins and needles!!!), make a cushion and pillows for the bench and bring my table in from the garage!

Well, one project down, 894,2345 to go!