So...this is exciting only because of my acknowledged lack of woodworking skills, but I spent a good portion of this past weekend building this:
We had previously had a pre-fab cedar bench sitting in front of our house that we had purchased at Menards a few years ago. However, a few weeks ago, several of the supports split and that was the end of that bench. My wife and I had looked around for a replacement in various stores but found nothing that we really liked.
So, on Saturday, I decided that I'd just throw caution to the window and build a cedar bench, rather than just buying one. I had found plans (links to a PDF file) for the bench in an issue of Family Handyman from 2003 and it didn't look too difficult, so that's the direction I went.
I purchased the lumber and supplies at a local Menards (lumber and supplies cost about half of what a good prefab bench would cost) and spent most of the afternoon and evening on Saturday cutting the wood and assembling the pieces. A few hours on Sunday were spent putting the finishing touches on (adding the trim pieces and rounding the corners). The article claims three hours to build this bench, and I believe them. But it took me about seven hours, all said and done.
I had a lot of fun doing this and had the opportunity to use some power-tools that don't get used all that often. I definitely have a good sense of accomplishment with this!
Plus, the bench is very comfortable to sit on!
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