DIY

DIY L-Shape Patio Bench

September 16, 2015
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In my previous blog, Re-Vamping Outside your Home, I posted a picture of our newly stained deck, finished patio, etc... but it was missing something. We had talked about making a bench out of pallets but were still in the process of trying to find pallets when we came across a free torn down fence down the street. We took a lot of the fence wood that was still in good condition to make future crafts with and I suggested to my husband, why not make a bench out of the fence wood. My husband got a fire pit for his Birthday and we wanted to invite the family out for a fire so we decided to make the patio bench this summer instead of next.


Supplies: 
  • Wood 
  • Saw 
  • Sander 
  • Hammer 
  • Nails 
  • Wood Stain 

How To:

1. First you need to cut the wood to the length you want your bench. After your wood is cut you need to sand the wood.

2. Build the frame of the bench. Our big bench frame consisted of two 66 inch wood post and three 14.5 inch wood post. The small bench frame is two 36 inch wood post and three 14.5 inch post. We put two nails where each post connected using a total of 24 nails for the two frames. The wood post in the middle of the frames are to help support the bench when people are sitting on it.

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3. After your frame is built you need to add the legs. You will need eight square post cut to 16-23 inches long. Our post are cut to 22 inches long but most chairs are closer to 16 inches off the ground so cut them to your liking. Make sure to hammer the leg post to the inside of your frame.


4. Now it is time to make the top of your bench. We had to take apart part of the fence we grabbed to make this part fit. We used three 66 inch wood posts and three 36 inch wood posts for the top. Start with the front of the bench. Attach the post by hammering nails into the three small boards on your frame. Repeat this for all six top boards. You should need 6 nails for each post making it a total of 18 nails in each bench.

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5. For the back of the bench we used part of the fence that was still together to save on time. We attached the fence to the bench using two pieces of wood we had laying around and some 3 inch nails. If you are making the back you will need to nail three boards to three pieces of wood that are long enough to cover the three back boards and attach to the bench, about 20 inches long.


6. Since we were making an L-Shape bench we had to make the back of the smaller bench longer so there wouldn't be a gap when put together. We attached the back the same way we attached the back to the longer bench. 


7. Once your benches are put together it is time to stain them. We stained the benches with a cedar stain we purchased from Walmart. It ended up being brighter than our deck because we put several coats on the bench since it kept absorbing it and the deck stainer was from Lowes but it will fade over time. Let Dry.

8. Once your benches have dried you can place them together. You can attach the benches together with brackets or wood but we chose not to to make them easier to move. 

Cost: We had to buy some nails and the wood stain ($23) but we still have some of both left. the wood was free and we already had all the tools so the bench cost us less than $20 to make.

We are planning on making another bench for the other side of our patio without a back on it so there will be plenty of seats next time we have people over!

 You might also like my blog, Re-Vamping Outside your Home.

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