Headboard into Beautiful Stained Bench

So, during my three week long winter break (wow, seams like a very distant memory now...)

I made not only one bench from a headboard and footboard (go check out that beauty!)

but I made another bench from a headboard and footboard, for my sister (lucky ducky!!)!

This one is pretty spectacular, if I do say so myself:)
My sister has a very active almost 2 year old boy, and this thing is so solid, that it will be able to withstand anything that boy throws at it...even himself.

I give a pretty detailed tutorial in my other headboard bench post, but I will walk you through the making of this one as well...because as I said when making the other one - every headboard/footboard combination is different....and you have to adjust and modify your steps for every little tiny uniqueness...

So, my dad picked up these beauties...a headboard and footboard made of solid wood - with very pretty designs and knobs.









As you can see, both are rather short.  The footboard is a perfect height for the arms, but the headboard needed to be raised for a proper back height. 
So, we (meaning my handy dad and I) figured out the height we wanted to seat to be at (about 20"). 

Since we knew that the seat was going to be attached at the bottom most part of the headboard ... we added 2x4s onto the legs after measuring the proper length, allowing for the fact that part of that 2x4 would be used for attaching the seat box.  (see the picture a few down to see what I mean)

We glued and screwed the extension pieces together, and screwed the extension into the existing part of the leg. 

























Using 1x4s, we built a seat box - glued and nailed all the pieces together - and bolted it into the front of the headboard.



















The depth of the seat box was about 16 inches, and we wanted the arms to overhang the front by a couple of inches, to accommodate the wood that was jutting out at the ends of the footboard.
After measuring the length of the arms, we cut the footboard - and screwed each arm into the back of the bench.
We used a level to make sure that everything was lined up, and later used a level to screw the seat box into the arms properly. 



















You can see the screw holes all along the back edge...but the front part of the arm is screwed into the seat box from the inside, to hide the screws.  We liked the look of the arms from the outside, and didn't want to have the screws or any bolts showing from the outside if we could help it.










Below is a view of the bench with the seat box bolted to the back, and the arms screwed on. 
Because we didn't put bolts through the arms and into the sides of the seat box on this one, we added strips of wood to the front, to support the front part of the seat. 









I will reiterate here that we were liberal with the wood glue, and the brad nailer/nail gun!








My dad had these GORGEOUS oak boards that he had been saving for over 10 years...and he generously contributed a few of them to this project!
The are very sturdy, the grain is beautiful, and each piece is unique.  They came from a friend's oak tree, which had been cut down from his yard years ago.  He worked very hard to plane the edges so that they fit snugly together without any gaps....











And once it was all done, we nailed the seat into the cross pieces of the seat box...and stained the whole bench the same color as the original headboard and footboard...
It was also sprayed with a clear coat finish - and will probably be sprayed again with a clear coat in the spring, when it is not so dang cold outside!










The bench is a beautiful natural color...









And during the summer, it will sit on my sister's porch - for everyone to enjoy while the kids play outside!









This was another huge accomplishment - and we LOVE how it turned out.  And believe me when I tell you - it is addicting!  You will be on the constant lookout for headboards that will work once you have successfully made one of these. 
I have no doubt that someday we will make a few more:)

Bench Made from a Headboard and Footboard!

My dad and I love doing projects together, and over the Christmas break, he and I made this beautiful bench as a gift for my mom.  When I first saw this blog post at My Re-Purposed Life, and this one here at Blue Cricket Design, my jaw dropped to the floor.  I fell in love with this idea!
My dad said that he would help me make one when I came into town for Christmas (after all, he is the one with the never ending supply of power tools!  Not to mention a plethora of good ideas:)  )


Just to Name a Few of the Tools we used

He kept an eye out and found us some headboards and footboards to work with - and as soon as I got into town, we got started. 

I took quite a few pictures, but I will have to give you a disclaimer here...there was SO MUCH SAWDUST floating around in the air, that not all of the pictures are the best quality.  We made these in the garage, and because it was dumping 3 feet of snow outside the garage door, we couldn't really work in the open air...  It was interesting - but worth it after we were finished!

Below are before pictures of the headboard and footboard.  The headboard had a lovely carving design that we knew would add a beautiful decorative element to the bench. 

The footboard, which belonged to the same bed as the headboard, was too short to work as proper arms for the bench, so we modified it. 
On each end, we added a notched 2x4, measured to fit the height we needed. 
We always reinforced our wooden pieces with wood glue, and thoroughly screwed, nailed or bolted the pieces, depending on the depth and stability of the wood. 
We also always counter sunk our screws and drilled a pilot hole, so as not to split the wood.
For these legs we screwed the 2x4 pieces into each end of the footboard. 

You can see above how the footboard would later be cut to become the arms of the bench. 

To the headboard, we attached a box that would become the seat.  We used pine 1x4's to build the box.  The length was calculated simply by measuring the length of the headboard. 
The depth was calculated by deciding that we wanted to use 1"x6" helmock boards for the seat, with a 1/2" gap between each board, and an overhang on the front of about 1/2".  Ultimately, the width of our box was about 14", and the length was about 55". 
As you can see in the picture below, we fastened two additional vertical pieces in the middle of the box for stability, and put small rectangular cut pieces of 1x4" boards into the corners.  The entire box was glued and nailed together with a brad nailer (a.k.a. nail gun). 
We then clamped the box onto the headboard at a height of about 20-21". 

We bolted the box onto the headboard in three places, as you can see in the picture above.  That seat wasn't goin' anywhere!

We carefully calculated the length that we needed to cut the arms, based on the wood we were using as the seat of the bench, the gaps in between the seat slats, and how far we wanted the arm to overhang the seat.  In the case of this particular footboard, we decided to have the arms overhang the seat because of the pieces jutting out at the ends.  We discovered throughout this project (and another one we did!) that every measurement and length, how you screw and bolt things together, where you cut, etc., is ENTIRELY dependent on the layout of the wood and the decorative elements of the headboard and footboard.  You really have to have a good eye and good brain for winging it:)

We then attached the arms by screwing them into the headboard/back of the bench, and bolting them to the box/seat of the bench. 

With this complete, all that was left of construction was cutting the seat boards to the correct length, and nailing them to the box.   

We nailed them (again using the brad nailer) along the 4 short vertical strips of the box.  One section is shown below. 

Then came the *fun* part.  Okay, so it wasn't so fun - considering how cold it was, and how LONG this part took:) 

We painted the bench with a dark cherry color, similar to the color of the original headboard and footboard, so that when we distressed the bench later, this color would show through. 

Then, we painstakingly added THREE MORE COATS of white paint over the dark.

Once it was completely dry, we took our handy dandy palm sander and went to town on all the edges - making the bench look worn and distressed.

Some parts were sanded by hand, particularly the carved detail and inner edges of the seat slats...

But since we wanted to get all the way through three layers of paint, back to that dark coat, we sanded for a long time with the electric sander.

It was SO GRATIFYING when it was done - and let me tell you what a surprise it was for my mom!!  She was thrilled with the bench - and already wants us to make more:)

For now, this one sits in her bedroom, and is being used as a display for her ever growing collection of hand made quilts.
It was quite an undertaking, and not a project of the faint of heart (I have more band-aides on my fingers than I can count!) but it is also incredibly fun and satisfying!  We will definitely be making more!

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