Remember my son’s bedroom?
He rests his head, for at least part of the night, on a knock-off Pottery Barn bed we made. For the other part of the night he transform into a stealthy ninja and plays musical beds. We never hear him coming.
I blogged about the bed about a year after we made it. The only thing I don’t love about the bed is how heavy it is. This wouldn’t be a problem if we were the type to stay in one home forever. 4 years is our record. The moving itch is real, folks.
The main reason the bed is heavy is because the mattress sits on a frame made from 2x10s and 2x6s. It’s not something my husband and I can easily move by ourselves. Taking apart and reassembling the frame every time we move seems cuckoo – even for us.
We finally figured out how we wanted to remedy this situation, so we dismantled the bed frame. (I’ll tell you about the remedy another time.)
That left this pile of boards sitting in our garage all lonely and forlorn. I couldn’t stand for it.
I told Handy Husband I had a great idea for what to do with these boards.
He said, “Wow, honey! That’s your best idea yet!”
Just kidding.
He rolled his eyes.
Then he got to work because I really do have fantastic ideas. And persuasive charm.
As you can see, we made a bench using only materials we had on hand.
The intent is for the bench to be paired with the outdoor dining table we built and never showed you. Blogger of the year! Woot, woot!
I showed Handy Husband inspiration photos for the bench and he said something akin to “you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit.”
Glad we’re on the same page.
The boards didn’t quite match our outdoor table, but that was easy to fix.
We re-sanded and then re-stained the boards to match the outdoor table.
My kindergartener wanted to help me with the staining and that’s when I gave him his own awesome Earth Day project to work on instead.
I’m always impressed with Handy Husband’s ability to wing a project with no plans and me looking over his shoulder.
As much as I like to swoon over his talents, that’s not the point of this post.
The point is you don’t need a workshop full of tools to make something cool and useful.
He only used a cutoff saw, a drill and a palm sander.
Yes, we could have made things a little more Pinterest-worthy with tools like a Kreg-jig.
But there’s something pretty fulfilling about using the tools you already have to their max.
While this wasn’t quite my vision for the bench, I’m super happy with how it turned out. I get what I get and I LOVE IT!
Plus, it’s way safer than the bench design I had in mind. Details.
Here are some other posts you might enjoy!
Refinish Wood Dining Chairs Without Power Tools
Zero Gravity Chair Repair on the Cheap
Step Stool (from high school shop class) Makeover Part 1 and Part 2
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