The bench in my mind

So I had this great idea for my entryway.  After living here for six months I finally decided how to organize our shoes and gloves and coats.  I got a tote for each family member to put their stuff in.  But what I really needed was a bench to put the totes under.  And it quickly became apparent that no bench existed like what I wanted.  So I would have to build it.

I went to Lowe's and bought three 10" x 8' boards.  (If you have never built anything, it may come as a surprise to realize that whatever the measurements of wood are, they are rounded up.  So if it SAYS it is 10" wide, it's probably only 8.5".  Totally threw off my original calculations.  I was just glad I'd brought a tape measure with me to the store!)

I had them cut the boards down to 6' and then used some 2x4s (again, rounded up!) that I had lying around for braces and the remainder of the legs. It took tons and tons of measuring, measuring, measuring. And then a lot of sanding. We don't own a sander. So I did it all by hand. Nathan helped. It was not fun.

This is what the underside ended up looking like.  If I had had more wood I would have spread the legs out a bit more.  As it is, it rocks a little because the center of balance is in the middle.  But the thing is so darn heavy there is no way it's going to accidentally fall over.

 

I painted it black, sometimes in the kitchen and sometimes in the garage.  I did most of this project during my first trimester, when I was often sick and easily exhausted.  Because of that it was truly a great undertaking!

But it looks so nice!  I was originally planning on sanding the edges to give it a distressed look, but I decided that's just not me.

I love how it turned out!  From the height of an adult, everything is hidden away.  And here you can see everything nicely tucked away underneath.  The whole thing ended up costing me around $50 in materials.  (It would have been less if I hadn't wasted money on the wrong sandpaper.)  I was hoping to not spend that much, but I don't think I could buy a bench for that!