Bench for Mudroom

I've been saying for years that I want to make a bench for our mudroom.  It would be nice to be able to sit to put on our shoes and boots rather than have to balance on one foot.  After my recent ankle re-injury (and months-long recovery...  it is still recovering) and now a knee injury (yes, I'm old after physically abusing my body for decades), this bench project was moved to the front burner.  Both Sheila and I are tired of the physical balancing act as we attempt to put shoes on at the door.

Another reason it was time for this bench project is because lumber is scarce and the little bit of lumber that can be found is a bit pricey.  This has put all the larger home improvement projects in a holding pattern for now.  I was thinking that I had enough scrap lumber lying around to build a pretty nice bench so it was time for this "little" project.  On the positive side, this project would also allow me to put a dent in the scrap lumber inventory I have lying around!

It turns out that it was not as little a project as I had thought.  Turning a bunch of rough, beat-up scrap lumber into a nice piece of furniture required a lot of cutting, shaping and sanding.  I still need to finish it with stain and a few coats of satin polyurethane but it is now assembled and looking pretty good.  All this cutting, shaping and sanding took a bunch of time.

I was in excruciating pain every evening after cleaning up.  My knee swelled up every afternoon (nor can I do any crouching or kneeling making all tasks/chores around the house far more painful and difficult) and my old spinal injuries get more inflamed the more I do throughout the day.  This project really was an exceptionally painful one in addition to being a bit larger and more time consuming than I had previously thought. 

As with all of my projects, I designed this bench myself.  Those chunky tapered legs were an afterthought but they look good so they were worth the extra time and effort.  

I purposely selected various types of wood to make the bench a bit more interesting.  I think I have Douglas Fir, Southern White Pine, and Spruce in this bench.  These different species of wood will really stand out once I put some stain on it.  Not only did I purposely choose different types of wood but I carefully chose which type of wood went where on this bench so that the different species would stand out even more.  

The task of staining and finishing it will probably take just as many days as building it but it will require only an hour or two a day.  The rest of the time will be waiting for the finishes to dry between coats.  Hopefully I will get to finish this project completely by mid-week next week but I would not be surprised at all if it takes all week.  I'm definitely taking the weekend off from all work around the house!

Anyway, this project is looking pretty good!