Simple Bench
![](/sites/default/files/CBF50AD0-4BA8-4350-B3AD-9889988DFA07.jpeg)
Really nice accent bench and super easy
Really nice accent bench and super easy
My father loved his woodworking and refinishing antique furniture. He built a wood shop years ago and loved spending he retirement years in there. He enjoyed going to auctions and the like and picking up antique pieces for $5 and $10. He had an antique oak dining table that someone had given him years ago. Cancer took him 4 years ago and he still has that shop full of antiques. I came across the old table and it was in sad shape. It was literally in several pieces and the legs were cracked. I decided to refinish the table.
I had some oak plywood and 1" by oak left over from other projects. I went ahead and removed all of the bracing and replaced all of it. I began stripping off all of the old finish. The underside of the table had been painted. The legs were the real challenge. Not only were the legs turned, they are fluted. I stripped off what I could with liquid stripper. I then used a power washer to help remove more. I then began sanding by hand every nook and cranny. I then filled all of the little cracks with wood filler. I used pin nails on the larger cracks. Once everything was stripped I began seeing a beautiful patina that only time can create.
I then began staining with Minwax Aged Oak gel stain. I used 2 coats on parts and up to 4 coats on other parts trying to get a uniform appearance to the wood. I used between 3 and 6 coats of Minwax quick drying polyurethane on the table. I sanded with 220 and 320 grit sandpaper between coats. I think it turned out pretty well.
The only thing I really had to buy was new casters. I think I spent about $10 for them. Everything else was left over from other projects. I worked on the project here and there between other projects I was working on. I think I probably had around 20 hours total on the project. Stripping and sanding the legs took the longest time. Somehow I think dad is smiling down at me when I finish his projects he had on the back burner.
Sat, 04/05/2014 - 11:53
Hello,
I have almost the exact table that you featured on a different project where you refinished an antique white oak 5 legged fluted table. I was wondering if you could provide info. on removal of these antique castors? My husband is tall and we would love to remove the original castors and possibly add wood furniture feet to add to the height of this short beauty. Any info. would be much appreciated. Thank you for your time!
In reply to Antique caster removal by Coconutpalm79
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 22:58
I'm sorry I have not been on in a while. Most casters come in two parts. The wheel usually has a stem on it. This can usually be removed by simply pulling it down. If it is stubborn then you may have to use pliers or channel locks. Once this is removed, you will find a sleeve that fits into the table leg. These tend to rust over time. Also they become quite stuck. I usually use a very fine standard screw driver to work them out. Occasionally the outer rim of the sleeve breaks off. I have used a drill and drill bit that fits the same size of the inner diameter of the sleeve. Use a very slow RPM on the drill and it should come out. Good luck with your table.
Made this loft bunk a few hours at a time, over the course of several months. Spare time and weather in Utah has been less than cooperative. I used some back pack strapping screwed to 1x3's for the mattress supports. For the finish I used 2 coats of paint with primer, and 3 coats of high use water base polyurethane. With a 5 and 7 year old I didn't want to be worried the paint would be getting dented and chipped off for a long time. I wanted to stain it originally but failed to remember to wipe off the wood glue before it dried so it got painted. This was a very fun project to build, my son loves it. Now to build another one for his sister.
This was my first project from Ana's website! She does such a wonderful job making the plans easy to follow for the novice builder.
I really needed a rustic coffee table for my new living room. All of the retail stores expect you to pay hundreds of dollars for a table less than half of the quality. I am so happy with how the table turned out! I already have a list of other furniture that I want to add to my home. Thanks so much for all you do, Ana!
What a pleasure it’s been to build this! Hope you don’t mind but I added a simple backrest…
Incidentally I made a pair of them, but run out of time so the other is in kit form waiting for the weekend!
Hope you like what we achieved! Keep the great ideas coming!
Graeme Jobey
When it was time for a big girl bed for my daughter I was so excited because I had been WANTING to make the Hanging Loft Bed since first spying it on The Bumper Crop and Ana White. I'm a novice so this was the perfect first project for me and my daughter LOVES it. If you have unique space challenges in any of your bedrooms this is the bed for you.
Wed, 09/12/2012 - 23:10
That turned out great! Very well done first project.
Tue, 12/18/2012 - 17:17
What a great idea! I can't wait to make one for my little girl next weekend. Can I ask a few questions? How did you affix it to the ceiling? I will not be able to get on top of the ceiling so I will be finding he joists with a stud-finder. I assume you screwed in eye-bolts?
How did you make the rail and ladder? Any help is GREATLY appreciated. Thanks so much for the idea, my Daughter is going to love it!
Thanks,
Rob
Tue, 12/18/2012 - 20:48
Thanks Rob!
I replied to you on the blog...
Jennifer
Thu, 08/01/2013 - 06:03
I just wanted to say that I just came across this and absolutely love it! My daughter and our new baby will be sharing a room and now I have inspiration on how to make it work! Can't wait to try this out! Love the ladder...how did you make the ladder?
I had always wanted a bigger entry way at my front door. Last year my husband was gone for 3 weeks (military training) and I had the perfect opportunity to make it happen.
as you can see the original closet took up half of the entry way, and was not very functional as far as storage. It was always crammed full of stuff and there was just no good way to organize it.
With the help of my mom and sister (huge thanks) we tore out the closet, put in a new floor in the entry way, built a bench with nooks for my girls, shelves below for shoes, and shelves above for storage containers.
The new floor was added as we found after the closet was out that the oak flooring did not continue under where those walls had been, and after consulting with a wood floor specialty guy, I was informed that the flooring in my house has not been made for some 50 years now. We added new flooring (which has been better with wet shoes anyways) and moved on.
The bench/ shelf was built by us with the size of the space in mind, and the height of the tallest shoes also in mind (my husbands boots) there are two cubbies and enough bench to seat one at a time to get shoes on or off. the back of the cubbies is painted in magnetic paint. very helpful when the girls need to take notes to school with them, I simply hang them up and they stuff them in their back packs on the way out the door. we have found that friends pictures go up through the school year there too. The round black containers that you see are perched along the top two shelves. They are $1 discounted, plastic garbage cans that I spray painted black to match. They have recently been labeled, gloves, hats, scarves, flip flops, out door chalk, etc. the very top shelf which you need a step stool to reach hold the off season bins and the lower shelf holds the in season bens. there are also 2 bens below the bench seat to hold, flip flops or gloves and hats for easy access for my girls.
Over all, the overhaul (:) has been great. people can now actually get into my house and out of the weather more then one at a time. the storage is much more efficient, and I feel much cleaner looking.
and best of all, because I like to change things up all the time, I can change out the bins to square or rectangle and any other type of material, anytime I like, I wont always have to stick with the repurposed garbage cans that I am using now. although these suckers hold a lot more then I ever would have thought.
This was my first really big project. and I am pretty proud of it. - And my husband actually thought he was in the wrong house when he came home from training :)
This build was the one that really got me into woodworking. I fell in love with this bed - and Ana White - as soon as i stumbled onto the plans online.
I built and stained this project in 4-6 hours. I used pocket screws to hide all the screws. This was my first time using plans from Ana White. In my opinion the plans are very detailed and easy to follow. Thanks Ana for the great site.
I saw your plans, and knew they were perfect for what we needed. After some minor adjustments to the dimensions for the baskets we found, I repurposed the 2x4's from some shelving I tore down. Then I used some left-over decking from a project we did last summer, for the top.
Al H.
mini farm house tables
My brother-in-law built this plan as an end table for my wife and I as a present. We wanted to build a hallway table, so I decided to modify the plan to fit in the long hallway. It looks great and is very sturdy. I listed it as a weekend project, but it was VERY easy and fast to build, but the finishing took a while because of so much surface area & drying time.
Made this out of just 2 x 6 boards.
Part of a huge order I did for outdoor furniture. Love how they turned out! Thank you!
I used Ana White’s plan for Grill Nesting Table for my inspiration. The dimensions were altered to accommodate my electric smoker and small Weber grill. I also revised the design so that my pile of recycled wood could be used. I made the “open” side to the back.
Billie Corbin
This goes into the mud room next to the recycling unit that I just completed the other day. My first project out there was a wooden bench with re-claimed wood. Very simple. I finished all three pieces similar. I painted grey paint on parts of the pieces (two coats) and then used a clear polyurethane (two coats with sanding before and in-between) on the rest of the projects.
This project was easier then I expected, and I love the look. I almost bought one like this at Ikea last year. So glad I held off as this was way cheaper to build and now has more sentimental value instead!
I was able to find brown bins to fit at target.com for $6.50 a piece, and can't wait for them to ship here. 4 of the 6 will be used for shoe bins, and the other 2 will be used for hats and mittens (live in Minnesota). So much neater looking than the plastic shoe shelves we had before.
FYI: there is a cut missing on the cut list: It is the bottom piece. The cut is 28 3/4" and is not mentioned on the list or in the diagrams....
Thu, 05/19/2016 - 15:33
Hello! I'm new to woodworking. I recently purchased an 8v lithium-ion drill by Ryobi. It's taking forever to build my cabinet with six cubbies. I keep having to stop to charge the drill. Do you think a 12v drill/driver would suffice?
Thank you for your help! :)
Thu, 05/19/2016 - 16:33
Hi Suzanne - this is a great drill. The ryobi One + drill/driver uses an 18v battery which fits interchangeably onto the other One+ tools. This one is on sale as a set from Home depot, which comes with a battery and charger.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-ONE-18-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Compact-Drill-Driver-Kit-P1811/205651590
Also you can get extra capacity spare batteries to switch out with:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-ONE-18-Volt-High-Capacity-LITHIUM-Battery-2-Pack-P122/204321540
I love mine and have purchased several other One+ tools and the extra batteries as well. (I especially love the AirStrike 18 gage finish nailer which doesn't need a compressor). Happy building!
:) Joanne
Made a smaller version of the fire truck bed for our two boys. The youngest will move "downstairs" when he gets out of the crib. It was fun, but lots of work! It took me about 5 weeks of weekend/late evening work.
Thanks for the great plans and inspiration.
Executive office desk withmatching hutch. Hanging file drawers on the bottom and pull out paper trays included on the top drawers. Adjustable paper tray in the hutch. Custom gray washed finish
Had fun with this one
Made the console table for my daughter. Plans were very detailed, accurate and accompanied with great pics and videos. Only tough time we had was trying to get the right diluted whitewash. Onto the matching coffee table next! Thanks Ana!
Brad Brouse
I loved every part of this project! I did it all by myself except for having the nice man at Home Depot cut all of the pieces for me (thank you tony! :) ). I had to buy all of the tools and found what I needed at a local flea market, and spent no more that $15 each tool. It was great. I have enough left over scrap lumber to build a coffee table of some sort next. Thank you so much for the plans, they were super easy to read and follow! I was able to find cushions at Home Depot as well, although they are not displayed in the picture since i love the stained wood so much. Since it is fall they were marked down to only $25/each which is a HUGE discount from previously being $90. The cost of the cushions will be the most expensive part of this project for sure, so make sure you can find what you want first before you get into this project if you have a strict budget for it!
Tue, 10/23/2012 - 09:49
you did an awesome job, and love the stain! I myself cant draw a sraight line... i was interested in having someone build this for me, curious if you would be interested in building sofa, 2 chairs, 2 endtables and coffee table? Located in texas.. thanks