Project: Benched!

Our dining room chairs, most of which we have had since we got married, are breaking down. Whether this is due to them being reasonably low quality, or whether it is due to abuse by 1-4 excitable, bouncy toddlers, I can't really say. Probably a combination.

This fact, coupled with the fact that at most we could easily fit 6 people around our table (fine for just the family, not so much for anyone else) inspired me to build some benches to go down the 'long' sides of our dining room table.

Using Google Sketchup (if you do much carpentry design and you haven't tried it you really ought to) I came up with the following:




The lengthwise braces at the bottom of the leg are the way they are so that the bench can be turned to either allow longer-legged people to easily rest their feet on the floor, or else to let shorter-legged people put their feet on the brace. Clever, no?

I don't have pictures of the actual final product, but in a few hours on Black Friday my BIL and I were able to cut, rout and assemble two of those, one for either side of the table. I have yet to sand/finish them, but they are very sturdy and perfect for what I wanted. And only one of them is a little bit wobbly (made more noticeable by our undulating dining room floor)!

I'll try to get some pictures of the unfinished product to post. I'm hoping to have some time this weekend to do some sanding and at least get the seat varnished, so it will stop absorbing food and drink before the stains soak deep enough that they won't sand out.

Also note that this project wouldn't be nearly as practical if we hadn't recently torn the carpet out of our dining room and put in laminate flooring, so we can actually move the benches around reasonably easily. Although currently the table slides more easily than the benches, which makes for some exciting 'tug of war' when the kids are ready to get down.

It's done!

About a year and a half ago, I embarked on a project, a journey, if you will, into...somethinghood. Namely, I began building a bunkbed for the two oldest kids, with the assumption that some day we would have more kids and want a place to put them.

This last weekend - much past due and somewhat over budget - I completed the last (for now) step on said bunkbeds and installed them in the kids' room:



When I say 'done' and 'complete', I use the term sort of as George Lucas uses it: I reserve the right to change things later, and there is probably stuff that will need to be added/changed later. But for now, we have bunkbeds, and b. is very excited. s. would be sleeping on the bottom bunk, except that he is too young to be relied apon to stay put without walls to keep him in. Maybe when he's 3?

I'm also proud to point out that they don't wobble, although whether this is due to my excellent craftmanship, or due to the fact that the floor undulates at a similar frequency to the legs is untested at this point, and will remain so for the sake of my ego.