Farmhouse Bench

We'd only been planning on building a bench by our front door since, oh, last summer.  And now that it seems easier to me to put my shoes on while sitting down rather than trying to balance/bend at the waist, it finally hit the top of the priority list.  Well, that and the fact that I rediscovered ana-white.com on my snow day a few weeks ago and proceeded to come up with at least 4 projects for my lovely, and super handy husband!

So it was no wonder that in about 2.5 hours he whipped up the bench one morning.  We stained it with a mahogany hue and then put a top coat of polyurethane on it (note I like to use we -- who I really mean is my wonderful JW who does fantastic projects and lets me get some rest because of the baby).  You can follow these plans from Ana White, but here's a little play-by-play of JW constructing it.  So, now...a guest appearance from JW:

Hey everyone! So down to brass tacks. Like Erin said, 2.5 hours; not much to this project. In total, there were ten cuts on the chop saw, and pre-drilling each screw. We had to modify the original plans a little to make it fit into the space we wanted; being mindful of the radius of the front door, the baseboard heater, etc.

 The 'wood shop' is created by backing Erin's car out of the garage, throwing down a couple sheets of cardboard, a box for a bench, and covering EVERYTHING with sheets. Maybe someday I will have a real shop ;)

 By pre-drilling every screw it allows for a nice clean finish, tight joints and easy assembly.

 Whitney decided to give everyone a size comparison.

After a few coats of stain and then a few of heavy-duty poly, our bench looks like this...

Quite frankly, I LOVE it! obviously this is Erin again as JW would never EVER use that phrase) :)  I'm hosting a baby shower in a few weeks and I think it'll be the perfect accessory for the front door! 

Let us know what you think - we'd love to hear from you :)