Menu

  • Home
  • Garden
    • Big Gardens
    • Small Gardens
    • Vegetables and Herbs
    • Yard and Backyard
    • Gardening Tips
    • Ornamental Plants
    • Indoor Plants
  • Home Design
    • Living Room
    • Kids Room
    • Bedroom
    • Home Office
    • Kitchen
    • Bathroom
    • Home Decor
    • Architecture and Design
    • All About Home
  • Interesting
    • Positive Stories
    • Interesting News
    • Stories Behind the Photographs
    • Odd News
  • Health & Beauty
    • Hairstyles
    • Makeup
    • Diet
    • Lifestyle & Mental Health
    • Fitness & Weight Loss
    • Beauty Tips
    • Health Tips
  • Recipes
    • Meals
    • Healthy Recipes
    • Desserts and Cakes
    • Cookies and Snacks
    • Keto Recipes
    • Video Recipes
  • DIY
    • DIY Ideas
    • DIY Tutorials
  • Pets
    • Cats
    • Dogs
    • Rodents
    • Aquatic Pets
    • Birds
    • Funny Animal Videos
  • Home
  • Garden
    • Big Gardens
    • Small Gardens
    • Vegetables and Herbs
    • Yard and Backyard
    • Gardening Tips
    • Ornamental Plants
    • Indoor Plants
  • Home Design
    • Living Room
    • Kids Room
    • Bedroom
    • Home Office
    • Kitchen
    • Bathroom
    • Home Decor
    • Architecture and Design
    • All About Home
  • Interesting
    • Positive Stories
    • Interesting News
    • Stories Behind the Photographs
    • Odd News
  • Health & Beauty
    • Hairstyles
    • Makeup
    • Diet
    • Lifestyle & Mental Health
    • Fitness & Weight Loss
    • Beauty Tips
    • Health Tips
  • Recipes
    • Meals
    • Healthy Recipes
    • Desserts and Cakes
    • Cookies and Snacks
    • Keto Recipes
    • Video Recipes
  • DIY
    • DIY Ideas
    • DIY Tutorials
  • Pets
    • Cats
    • Dogs
    • Rodents
    • Aquatic Pets
    • Birds
    • Funny Animal Videos

DIY – How to Make Outdoor Bench

15
Aug
75
DIY – How to Make Outdoor Bench
By Nightlight
/ in DIY,DIY Tutorials
/ tags DIY, DIY Instructions, DIY Tutorial
0 Comments

Every porch needs a bench, at least that’s what Steve and I decided the other day. Actually Steve has had the concept for this bench in his head for awhile. He wanted to make something without screws and hardware . . . completely with adhesive. Yet he had some other qualifications as well – the bench had to be modern, inexpensive, load bearing (no falling apart please), and look great.

This outdoor bench meets all those qualifications and more!

And it was quite a coincidence that we were flipping through a Williams Sonoma Home catalog the other day and found this Larnaca Outdoor Coffee Table that looks somewhat similar, yet has one BIG difference. The Larnaca coffee table costs $1,295, while Steve’s version is $35. Now ours is a outdoor bench while the Larnaca is technically a coffee table, but the idea is the same, and you can always modify the size of this modern bench to fit your desired specifications.



So here’s how to build this outdoor bench, with a finished size of 16″ high x 40″ long x 13.5″ deep.

Gather These Supplies:

  • Regular 2 x 4s – pine, not pressure treated (see Cut List below; also you may want to use pressure treated wood if your bench is going to be exposed to the elements, though it is more expensive)
  • Exterior grade Liquid Nails (or other construction adhesive made for wood)
  • Bar clamps
  • Thompsons water seal and stain (Nutmeg)
  • Paintbrush
  • Rag
  • Table saw
  • T square – or something to make sure edges are square
  • Hand held belt sander with a 80-grit and 120-grit
  • Sanding blocks – 80-grit and 120-grit
  • Surface protection – cardboard box, tarp, etc
  • Optional – drill and four feet if you don’t want the bench to touch the patio or ground directly

Cut List – you might notice that the measurements don’t quite add up – this is because the ends were milled off and sanded to get the resulting finished size bench.

  • 33.5″ long (five pieces)
  • 40″ long (four pieces)
  • 16″ long (ten pieces)
  • 12.75″ long (eight pieces)

DIY – How to Make Outdoor Bench

Step One: Do this before you cut your pieces down to size. Using the table saw, “mill” the 2″ edges of every piece of wood so that you get a very square edge (as opposed to the rounded edges that come on a 2×4). This will give your bench a more modern look.




You can also use a planer to create perfectly parallel faces on your wood. Wood purchased from the hardware store is hardly ever even, hence the need to cut it down as Steve has done.

DIY – How to Make Outdoor Bench

Step Two: Cut the pieces of wood according to the cut list above. Keep in mind, these measurements produced a finished bench that is 16″ high x 40″ long x 13.5″ deep . . . AND a little extra was left for the milling and sanding process. If you want to customize the size of your bench, you’ll need to adjust these cut lengths.

DIY – How to Make Outdoor Bench DIY – How to Make Outdoor Bench

Step Three: You’re going to use your pieces of wood to essentially create a box joint – and this is kind of like a puzzle (Jenga?). So try to follow me as I describe it! You’ll need to have your box clamps on hand and ready, along with the Liquid Nails.

Place a 40″ piece of wood on the ground, with a 33.5″ piece in the center. On each end, you’ll place a 16″ long piece perpendicular to the other two pieces, as shown in the photo above. Make sure everything is even and as flush as possible (and use a t-square or other item if necessary to for a right angle), then glue into place and clamp.

DIY – How to Make Outdoor Bench DIY – How to Make Outdoor Bench

Step Four: These additional photos show you what you’ll be doing. You’ll be adding Liquid Nails to the wood, setting it up in your pattern as shown, then adding clamps to hold it together. Remember that you’re doing a modified box joint, so you’ll have one long piece of wood, then one short piece, then long, then short, and so on.




Your best bet is to follow this process:

  1. organize the pieces of wood without gluing FIRST so that you understand how the bench goes together;
  2. begin at one end of your bench and start assembling with the Liquid Nails, using the clamps as placeholders as you go along;
  3. continue add Liquid Nails, wood, and increase the size of your box clamps until the bench is fully assembled

It’s seriously way easier than it sounds – and doesn’t take long to do once you get into your rhythm!

DIY – How to Make Outdoor Bench

Step Five: Once your bench is full assembled as shown, keep it clamped and let it dry overnight. You’ll see that some of the edges aren’t even, but we’re going to remedy that!

DIY – How to Make Outdoor Bench DIY – How to Make Outdoor Bench

Step Six: Undo the clamps and sand with the belt sander to get everything even. Don’t forget to sand with the grain! Sand until it’s completely smooth and flat. Do this on the legs, too. Then wipe away all of the sanding dust.

If your bench needs quite a bit of even-ing out, start with the 80-grit and finish with the 120-grit.

DIY – How to Make Outdoor Bench DIY – How to Make Outdoor Bench

Step Seven: Use your stain to paint your bench. Applying stain is relatively easy. You can use a brush, paint it on, then wipe it off. You can read the instructions on your container to make sure you are following the process for that particular stain. Some people even apply stain with a rag and then wipe it off with a second rag to get a look they like.

DIY – How to Make Outdoor Bench

Note: Steve used two coats of stain and the stain lifted the grain of the wood slightly so that it doesn’t feel 100% smooth as it did right after sanding. To prevent this, you’ll probably want to apply a coat of stain, then sand with 120-grit, then stain again.

Our stain was outdoor stain AND sealer, and our project is currently under a porch covering (though it is exposed to the elements). Depending on how much your bench will see sunlight and rain, you’ll likely want to make the final project a little tougher with some hard core polyurethane.

DIY – How to Make Outdoor Bench

Step Eight: This step is completely optional. Our bench is sitting near ground and with the amount of bugs we have in the south, we wanted it a little raised up off of the ground.




DIY – How to Make Outdoor Bench DIY – How to Make Outdoor Bench DIY – How to Make Outdoor Bench

Steve purchased furniture feet, drilled holes in the legs, then inserted. It’s very easy.

And that’s it!



DIY – How to Make Outdoor Bench

Your outdoor bench is done. And it pretty much looks amazing.

DIY – How to Make Outdoor BenchDIY – How to Make Outdoor Bench

We already had a rain here so I also wanted to show you how well the stain works – the water just pools on top and comes right off . . . no soaking into the wood!

So let’s review: $35 in supplies, easy to cut, easy to assemble, no nails or screws required.

If you like this project, check out DIY Adirondack Chair and Table and beautiful DIY – Garden Love Seat as well.

Source: diycandy.com
Thanks for sharing this!
DIY Aloe Vera Face Wash for Daily Cleansing
DIY Aloe Vera Face Wash for Daily Cleansing 6 years ago
Home decor ideas and tutorials
Home decor ideas and tutorials 9 years ago
How to Remove & replace moldy shower caulk
How to Remove & replace moldy shower caulk 8 years ago
← Exercises to Get Rid of Lower Belly Fat
Growing Amazon Elephant’s Ear (Alocasia Amazonica) →

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Quiet Corner

Tags

All About Home Architecture and Design Beauty Tips Cats cooking design diet DIY DIY Tutorial DIY Tutorials dogs Do It Yourself easy to make fitness food garden garden ideas Gardening Gardening Tips health Health and Beauty health tips healthy food Healthy Recipes home Home Interior Houseplants ideas Indoor Plants interesting Interesting Facts Interesting News Interesting Things Keto Keto Recipes meals Nutrition Ornamental Plants pet pets plant recipe recipes tips Yard and Backyard
WHO WE ARE

Quiet Corner is your place for relaxation! Quiet Corner will help keep you informed and it’s the definitive resource for weight loss, smart nutrition, health and beauty, home and gardening and all little things that make life happy, filled with tips, tricks and recipes to get you the body—and the life—you want…

LATEST COMMENTS
  • Great plans for the perfect greenhouse design my wife loves!!! I
    KEN KOPP
  • Thank you for sharing this very knowledgeable information.
    Diana
  • Beautiful
    Christina Mary Wolstenholme
POPULAR ARTICLES
  • How To Grow Banana Trees In Pots 431 people like this
  • Small Garden Design – Tips and Tricks 397 people like this
  • Keto Peanut Butter Blondie 370 people like this
  • Homemade Keto Chocolate Chips 333 people like this
OUR PAGES
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
    This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
    Privacy & Cookies Policy

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled

    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

    Non-necessary

    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.