HOW TO BUILD AN OUTDOOR BENCH
Building an outdoor bench is one of the easiest furniture pieces you can make. It’s pretty straight forward with clean lines and can hold up to years of wear and tear (this one is 7 years strong and still with us!)
We lucked out and found these spindles at a yardsale. If you can’t find any to repurpose, they are fairly inexpensive at the lumber store (and much less than buying a bench).
Using spindles for the legs, I cut them off at the length I wanted (looking for a spot that made sense on the round areas and trimmed extra from the solid shank part.) Then I used 1x4s and created a frame with cross beams in the middle and used supports on each inside corner for strength and to help keep the legs secure.
I used screws to put the cut off spindles on as legs and cut braces for extra support.
We used a 1/2 inch block for a spacer, so that the water will drain off, because it is an outdoor bench after all. And of course, we gave it a coat of outdoor paint to help keep it sealed. {we recoat it every 2-3 years}
Once it was done we painted the top but left the spindles to weather with their original paint, and it has brought a beautiful patina over the years to our outdoor bench.
Here she is!! From putting beside a long dining table for family get togethers or just hanging out on the porch by the pool, we’ve found this outdoor bench to be one of the most useful furniture projects we’ve ever built.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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4 of 49 comments
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How awesome is that bench. My mind was trying to figure out how to do something like this. You just made it simple. Thanks!!!
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It is my pleasure Julia, good luck!
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Love love love this bench! Thank you for sharing all the instructions. It turned out beautiful.
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Thanks so much Lorraine!!
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