Whether your digs are cramped or palatial, a storage bench provides both extra seating and another place to stash your stuff.
This Old House general contractor Tom Silva and host Kevin O’Connor build a storage bench for an entryway.
Click the video to play.
Shopping List for Building a Storage Bench:
- 1/2-inch and 3/4-inch cabinet-grade birch plywood
- 1×3 and 1×8 poplar
- Crown molding
- Two wicker storage baskets
- 4 Decorative coat hooks
- Carpenters’ glue
- Cloth rag, for wiping off excess glue
- 1 1/4-inch pocket screws, used to join rails to stiles
- 1-inch screws, for attaching stiles and rails to the plywood back of the bench
- 2 1/2-inch drywall screws, used to assemble the storage box
- 1 1/2-inch brads, used to join together the legs
- 120-grit abrasive disks
- 1-inch pins, for securing the crown molding
- Primer and latex paint or wood stain
Tools List for Building a Storage Bench:
- Table saw, for ripping plywood to width
- Track saw, used to crosscut plywood to length
- Miter saw, for cutting poplar parts to length
- Pocket-hole jig, used to bore pocket holes
- Clamps, for holding parts during pocket joinery
- Drill/driver
- Impact driver, used to drive screws
- Router with quarter-round stepped-beading router bit, for shaping edges
- Wet/dry vacuum, used to collect dust
- Jigsaw, for cutting a radius into each leg
- Pneumatic brad nailer
- Random-orbit sander
- Pneumatic pin nailer
