52" Farmhouse Bench

After I built this 6' Farmhouse Table a few weeks ago, the same client who ordered the table requested a matching bench. I used these Ana White plans as a rough guide (except I used pocket holes) but had to adjust the cut list to get the bench down to a size that would slide under the table.

Here's the cut list I used:

• 4 4x4 @ 16.5" legs (I used reclaimed fence posts for these)
• 2 2x8 @ 38.5" seat (my 2x8s were ripped down to 6.75" to get rid of the rounded edges)
• 2 2x8 @ 13.5" breadboard ends of seat 
• 2 2x4 @ 40" side aprons
• 2 2x4 @ 4" end aprons
• 2 2x4 @ 11" end supports

The finished dimensions of the bench are 18" high x 52" wide x 13.5" deep.

The only tricky part of building this bench was attaching the 4" side aprons. 4" doesn't leave you enough space to use pocket holes, so I ended up gluing and clamping the little aprons between the legs. Once I was ready to attach the seat to the apron and legs, I used pocket holes to screw the apron into the underside of the seat. I don't think that apron is required for structural support (since the end supports at the bottom of the legs provide support for the legs), but if they weren't there the bench would look pretty goofy.

The bench only took one day to build but, as usual, the finishing process took me a few days to complete. (Hence the frontloaders vs. paint sprayer question you might have seen from me on Facebook.) Don't you just love that aged turquoise finish? I've posted a finishing tutorial for you here.