This bench was a surprise gift for Krystina, a friend’s daughter. She had been looking for a Guest Book for her wedding and could not find one that she liked. The completed bench is a slightly modified version of the Fancy X Farmhouse Bench from Ana-White.com. It’s shorter in length and has a solid top as opposed to individual boards.
This was my second build and one that I could not mess up. It was the first time that I glued up boards – two 2 x 2’s to make the center, upstanding portion of the legs. The bench went together fairly smoothly. I took my time with the build, working on it in small sections of time. As I worked on it, if I felt that I was starting to rush something, I would stop and walk away for a while. One of the best things you could do for a project like this.
The most nerve wracking portion of the build was painting the Bride and Groom’s names and their wedding date on top. I printed this on a plotter using the same font that they used for their wedding announcement. The outline was transferred to the top, and painted it by hand.
The main thing that I learned from this build is to take my time when building and walk away for a while if needed. No use in rushing a build – it usually only results in less than desired results. What surprised me the most was the peacefulness that I found while building this. I’m looking forward to future builds.
The Bride and Groom loved the bench and all of the guests thought it was a great idea. It’s hopefully one piece of furniture that they will have for a long, long time.
This bench was a surprise gift for Krystina, a friend’s daughter. She had been looking for a Guest Book for her wedding and could not find one that she liked. The completed bench is a slightly modified version of the Fancy X Farmhouse Bench from Ana-White.com. It’s shorter in length and has a solid top as opposed to individual boards. This was my second build and one that I could not mess up. It was the first time that I glued up boards – two 2 x 2’s to make the center, upstanding portion of the legs. The bench went together fairly smoothly. I took my time with the build, working on it in small sections of time. As I worked on it, if I felt that I was starting to rush something, I would stop and walk away for a while. One of the best things you could do for a project like this. The most nerve wracking portion of the build was painting the Bride and Groom’s names and their wedding date on top. I printed this on a plotter using the same font that they used for their wedding announcement. The outline was transferred to the top, and painted it by hand. The main thing that I learned from this build is to take my time when building and walk away for a while if needed. No use in rushing a build – it usually only results in less than desired results. What surprised me the most was the peacefulness that I found while building this. I’m looking forward to future builds. The Bride and Groom loved the bench and all of the guests thought it was a great idea. It’s hopefully one piece of furniture that they will have for a long, long time.
