After building Paul a bar cart for his birthday and unveiling it the night before because I was too excited, I decided that I would finally build one of the items that has stuck in my mind since I first saw it on Pinterest as a second surprise.
Materials I used
One long piece of salvaged wood from Second Use
Two pallets from Re-Store Seattle (only used one in bench, the other is an optional back I lean against the wall)
Four connectors
Some used coffee sacks from Second Use
Custom cut cushion foam from Jo-Anns
How much it cost
Only about $15 for the frame! The pallets were only $5 each!
Cushions $60 – first time having custom foam cut. If I wasn’t in a rush, I’d research more/buy online. The coffee sacks were only $2.50 each from Second Use but foam can run you a fair bit!
How I built it
First I had my friend Jack have to come over and rescue me by helping me get the pallets out of the car as they were stuck!!
Then I sanded the pallets because there were A LOT of pieces hanging off and Paul has an amazing talent for getting splinters – honestly, he should get an award of some sort.
I actually sat in one of my favorite chairs and measured how high off the ground it is. I used this to judge how high the legs should be, where the ‘seat’ should sit, and how high the arm rests should be. I did about 23 inch legs in total, with the seat starting 11 inches off the ground. Don’t forget to consider the height of your foam!
I attached the legs to the pallet using some connectors, but in all honesty, I shouldn’t have bothered. I should have just used a drill and some long screws to connect the legs directly into the pallet.
I also had to insert some extra pieces of wood into the pallet to attach the legs as the connectors I had purchased were a little too wide!
I attached the arm rests to the the legs using a drill and screw. I decided to make the arm rests end at the legs so that the bench can be used from any direction!
I went to Jo-Anns and got some custom foam cushions cut. I had been planning to cut up the coffee sacks and re-sew them all together but the foam I had cut actually fit perfectly in the coffee sacks!! Advice: don’t get it custom cut, measure your coffee sacks and try to find some foam that will fit in there. I closed over the coffee sacks by sewing them together with some twine.
I decided to use the end pieces I had as cushions. Enjoy with a beer in the sun!
