How to Make a Bench from a Dresser
13 December
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We have completed several cool projects and I'll share links to those at the end of this post in case you have yet to see them.
We have been working on a project for the dining room over the last few Sundays and today I'm ready to share it.
I've been dying to start this project for some time but others took precedence. It's finally time though; I'm going to show you how to make a corner dining bench from a free curbside dresser 😀
How to Make a Bench from a Dresser
Supply List
- A dresser that you can cut up
- A saw - I have this Chicago Electric jijsaw
- Sander & sandpaper - I have this Black & Decker Mouse sander
- Wood for seats - I used 3/4" particleboard that we already had
- Plywood for backs - I used two 3/8", 2' x 4' project panels
- Scrap wood - I used scraps of 1" x 4" boards and a scrap of trim that we already had
- Screws - I used 1" particleboard screws and 1 1/2" particleboard screws
- Paint - we used one quart of Outdoor Oasis by Behr
- Stain - we used one pint of Varathane Dark Walnut
- 3" foam - we also used some thrifted chair cushions for the foam
- Fabric to upholster the seats - we used Sherpa
- Drawer pulls - we used these ring-style cabinet pulls in antique brass
- Staple gun & staples - this is the Dewalt gun that I have
My dad found a dresser with a free sign on it sitting on the curb and brought it to my daughter when she first moved into the house. At the same time, I scored a vintage dresser from a friend and gave that to my daughter too.
She chose to use the vintage dresser (like mother, like daughter 😉) for her clothes, but we kept the other one because I had an idea brewing in my head.
This is the dresser my dad picked up. It did have drawers but we removed them before I took this picture. It's not what I'd call a "nice" dresser, just a cheap particleboard piece. You can see some of the trim was missing and someone had used it for a drawing canvas, but it was perfect for this project. (Pay no mind to the messy garage, we're gathering items for a garage sale next spring).
To determine the proper height to make the benches, I used a regular dining chair, placed it next to the dresser, and drew a line even with the chair seat onto the side of the dresser.
TIP: if you are recreating this project, make sure you take into account the thickness of the seat you plan to add. When we first started, I included the feet on the dresser in my measurement. We then decided not to use the feet which would have made the bench too short for a dining table but our foam plus the wood we used added about 5 more inches so it all worked out.
Once I had the basic height marking, I used a tape measure and a straight edge to draw a straight line for cutting on both sides and the back of the dresser.
I used my jigsaw to cut along the line.
I cut off the top of the dresser using the same process.
This dresser had a laminate finish so I just did a light scuff sanding so the paint had something to grab onto.
Each one of these benches will have a drawer for storage! Here's one with the drawer put back in.
Now, the top portion of the dresser will be turned upside down so what used to be the top of the dresser, will now be the bottom of the bench. To have the drawer work, I had to turn the drawer runner over too, and reattach it.
We used two pieces of particle board that we found in the water heater closet. They were already the perfect size for the bench tops.
The back of the dresser was already pretty flimsy and even more so after it was cut so I added additional supports to the back with some scraps of wood.
And then I screwed the tops down into the supports and the sides and front edges of the benches.
I filled in those front gaps with more scrap wood gluing them along the bottom edge with wood glue and screwing the seat tops into them. (So far, we've only purchased the screws)!
The backs of the benches are going to have a wavy edge like the bench in our inspiration photo. We made a template with a scrap of cardboard from a TV box that blew into the yard during some heavy winds 😁 and two planters (we're all about reducing, reusing, and recycling around here)!
It's probably hard to see what is happening in this picture but we drew around the curved edges of each planter to make a wave design.
Once we had a template cut out, I traced that onto the edge of each piece of plywood. I used two 3/8", 2' x 4' pieces of what they call "project panels," from Home Depot. These were $20 each.
We then took the benches inside to complete them It does have that ugly stain which I think happened at some point during its life next to the hot water heater before I purchased the house but it'll be covered.
While she painted, I stained the backs with Dark Walnut by Varathane and once that was dry, we put the benches in place. It looks kind of funny in this picture because we didn't want to cover up the window trim or have it stick out beyond the edge of the wall on the other side. In hindsight, I think I should have made it a little shorter and gone the full length of the benches. But, it doesn't seem to bug my daughter and it looks better once it's styled so it'll stay like this.
I had some 3" foam leftover from another project that we used for one bench. I found some off-white Sherpa marked down to 60% off at JoAnn's. We wanted to use this fabric because this is what my daughter used for her dining chairs and we wanted them to coordinate.
I picked up two outdoor chair cushions at Goodwill for $6.99 to use for the other bench since I didn't have enough foam. I must say, this was a great idea, it was cheaper than buying more foam.
That's little Paul the rescue kitty playing with the ties on the cushions. You may remember him from the DIY cat closet project; he's getting so big!
I built a little box with scrap wood and then we upholstered a little top piece to cover it.
We chose not to reuse the original drawer pulls which were just plain wooden knobs. I found these cute pulls on Amazon.
We styled it with some cute pillows.
We decided we needed some more pictures for her vintage landscapes gallery wall so we headed to my mom's to go shopping! 😆 My mom has lots of stuff tucked away in the dark recesses of her house and she didn't disappoint, we found a couple of new vintage pictures for the gallery wall.
It's definitely not perfect but we are pretty proud of this DIY dining bench 😌 We had Thanksgiving at my daughter's house and my boyfriend and I were quite comfortable sitting on the bench during dinner!
Cost Breakdown:
2 project boards for backs - $40.04
2 boxes of screws - $12.36
Paint $19.78
Stain - $7.18
Goodwill cushions for seat padding - $6.99
1 yard of Sherpa fabric - $6.79
Drawer pulls - $15.30 for four pulls
Total - $108.44. It really didn't even cost that much because we have extra supplies left over, like screws, paint, and stain.
Here are the other projects we've finished at the rental so far:
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Posted by: Tania | Little Vintage Cottage
at 13 December
Tag:
home decor
Very cool project Tania!
ReplyDeleteThank you!!
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