I did it! I finished the laundry bench that I’ve been building for my mother-in-law’s laundry room. Pardon my not-so-Pinterest-worthy pictures. Photography isn’t my strongest skill, and I was in a rush to deliver this project so that I could have it out of my garage to make space for my next project.
Overall, it was a pretty simple and affordable build, and woah baby did I learn a lot!
The Materials: What I Used and What You’ll Need
- What I had:
- 2×6 reclaimed construction lumber
- 1-in x 2-in x 4-ft Unfinished Select S4S Pine Common Softwood Board purchased from Lowes as extra for another project
- 1-in x 3-in x 8-ft Unfinished FAS Better S4S Poplar Common Hardwood Board (Go with pine instead if you’re planning to stain)
- What I bought:
- Brown Redwood Wood Square Deck baluster for the remainder of the legs
- RELIABILT 3-in x 0.75-in x 3-in 2.5 -Gauge Black Steel Corner brace 4 -Pack
When we moved into our house, there were terribly unconvincing, vinyl-covered, faux wood beams in the room that’s now our dining room/play room. My father-in-law helped us take them down, and when I realized they were probably original to the house (think early 1960s), I insisted we put them off to the side for a future project. You can see them on the ceiling in the picture below. I wish I had a close-up. The vinyl was actually bubbling and lifting. They were practically screaming to be pulled down.
I’ve also got a woodpile full of castoff pieces from other projects. I’ll spare you the sight of my garage.
To complete the bench, I purchased a couple of 1-in x 36-in Redwood Square Deck balusters that I bought from Lowes for a total of $8.00.
Do I think mixing woods was the right wood choice? Maybe. If I’d decided to paint instead of stain this bench, I think it would have looked fine. But if you’re planning to stain like I eventually decided to, I recommend using the same type of wood for the apron and legs. Count it as one of the MANY lessons I learned during this build:
Building the Bench
Building the bench from reclaimed construction lumber was great in theory. The reclaimed beams from my living room are true 5″ x 2″ Douglas fir, and I love the way the grain runs from end to end.
I wanted to finish this project quickly and affordably (the first of which didn’t happen), and I liked the idea of slender profiled legs with a chunkier top. I purchased the redwood thinking I was going to paint the base anyway and it would be worth the hassle of not having to cut the legs to size myself. Note: at the beginning of this project, I didn’t own a table saw.
Here’s what the base of the table looked like after I’d assembled it. Sorry friends, I didn’t take pictures of the assembly. It was a huge pain in the butt, and I’m pretty sure you don’t want to follow my process anyway. Honestly, I think the legs and base would be beautiful using just the redwood, especially for outdoor furniture.
The wood is assembled with butt joints using pin nails and pocket holes. I used pin nails to join the pieces, and then reinforced the joints with pocket screws. The top is assembled with dowels and glue. This is the first time I had a table saw to use for a project, and I learned A LOT about ripping boards by watching far too many YouTube videos.
The reclaimed Douglas fir was warped slightly, and the only planer I had was this tiny one here. I’m honestly surprised that I managed to pull it off with just that little planer.
Here’s the table pre-finishing and staining.
Finishing and Staining
After sanding and cleaning the bench with some mineral oil, I decided that I wanted to tone down the red in the legs with a green-toned stain. I landed on Varathane Hazelwood Classic Interior Wood Stain, which turned out REALLY nice. It gave the redwood that perfect weathered, but not too weathered, look that I wanted.
Sadly though, I didn’t stick to just using the Hazelwood stain on the legs. I’d tested it on a piece of pine that I thought was from the same stock, and it took the stain well. But the sides of the apron turned out to be poplar, not pine, and poplar doesn’t take stain well at all. The end result was so ugly that I ended sanding it off and using the poplar’s natural color.
Here’s how the finished bench top looked before assembly. You can really see the long grain pattern that I mentioned earlier. I used Minwax Wood Finish Oil-based Simply White Semi-transparent Interior Stain after reading this blog post: Best Wood Stain For Pine | Douglas Fir !
I assembled the top to the legs with a set of four L brackets and added some cheap furniture feet left over from our dining room/playroom updates.
And Here’s the Final Product
I learned A LOT while working on this bench – from identifying the different types of wood I was working with, to making rip cuts on a table table, and various finishing techniques.
Personally, I love how the slim legs look with the slightly thicker bench top. What do you think? Does this scrap wood approach to a bench have any appeal to you?
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