$4 Upcycled Bench

Would you mind if I brag about my husband for a second? You see, he is the most amazing guy I know.  I tend to get some crazy ideas in my head, but it is John who takes my vision and creates something amazing.  For instance, last weekend he built an amazing bench out of leftover firewood that we hadn't been able to burn through this past winter.

While cleaning up our balcony and making it beautiful for lazy summer evenings, I was quickly falling out of love with the pile of firewood I had previously been head over heels for.  I started brainstorming ways we could put the wood to use (it had been an amazing birthday present and had kept us toasty warm throughout the winter) while getting rid of it.  It was taking up valuable garden space!

In my visionary state of mind, I began seeing a rustic bench for our containers of vegetables and flowers.  I sorted through all the wood and found four legs that were the same height.  Excited, I described my dream bench and sweetly asked John to build it for me.  Wait until you see what he created!

I sanded the legs well, stripping the bark and ensuring splinters were not the consequence when touching them and John bought a piece of wood (forgive me but I have no idea the size or type of wood) for $4.

We carefully set up the piece of wood on top of the branches to ensure it would be stable and not wobbly.  When we had decided where we wanted the branches, we flipped it over so we could pencil in where they would go.

John pre-drilled the holes so the wood wouldn't split.

While he was working hard on building an amazing bench, Layla-Butt and I cheered him on.  We're great cheerleaders!

Once the branches were screwed into place, John decided the bench needed some additional support. Taking a walk through the woods behind out apartment, he found the perfect stick.

He drilled large holes and placed the sticks between the legs to stabilize the bench with wood glue.  We then used wood filler to create a seamless fit.

After staining and waterproofing, our bench was complete.

Isn't is amazing? To think we made it out of firewood and a $4 piece of wood.

It provides the perfect backdrop for our balcony and displays our container garden beautifully!  The remaining wood is neatly stacked beneath the bench until I come up with some new ideas...suggestions welcome!



 I'm linking this project to Today's Creative Blog as well as the parties listed in the party tab.