Simple Garden Bench

Hello! It’s Ginger from GingerSnapCrafts.com, & I am so happy to be a part of the Craftaholic Anonymous Creative Team this year! I love stopping by each month to say hello & share my latest projects, crafts & ideas with you. Today I’d love to show you how I made this Simple Garden Bench with just a few supplies I had on hand. So let’s get started.

Simple Garden Bench

Simple Garden Bench



garden bench tutorial

I don’t know about you, but we tend to collect scrap pieces of lumber around our house. You know the leftover pieces from past projects or projects you never got to! It tends to pile up in our shed. ha! So it cost me nothing to make this simple garden bench. I had everything I needed on hand. Love that! If you do need to buy the wood it shouldn’t cost too much. So let’s get started.

You’ll need some 2×8, 2×4 & 1×4 boards for this project. Cut your boards using a table saw into the following lengths.

2×8

  • (2) 40 inches long pieces
  • (2) 37 inches long pieces

2×4 

  • (4) 30 inches pieces
  • (4) 14 1/4 inches pieces

1×4

  • (2) 16 inches cut at 45° angles

other supplies:
table saw
wood screws
drill & drill bit
sander & sand paper
wood stain
brush or old rags

garden bench plans

First, lay out the two 40 inch long 2x8s on the ground. Screw two of the 14 1/4 inch boards on each end using wood screws. Make sure you leave space on each end to fit the 2×4 legs. We will be putting those on in just a minute. I just used a scrap of 2×4 & a pencil to mark the space.

garden bench tutorial

Next you will attach the legs. These are the four 30 inch long 2×4 pieces. Screws those into to the small 2×4 pieces with wood screws & drill.

garden bench tutorial #DIY

After I got all of the legs attached I flipped the table upright onto its legs.

garden tutorial

Next I measured how high I wanted my bottom shelf to be. Then I attached the other two 14 1/4 pieces of 2×4 (one on each pair of legs) with wood screws.

garden bench GingerSnapCrafts.com

Then I slid in the two 37 inch 2×8 pieces right on top of the 2×4 braces & screwed them in on each end. This makes your bottom shelf.

garden bench easy

To help square up my bench I used two pieces of 1×4 board cut at 45° degree angles & screwed them into the back top two corners of my bench. These will be in the back, so you don’t have to worry about them showing.

garden furniture

Then I sanded everything down really well. Then I wiped down everything to get off any dust or dirt. Next I stained my table with two coats of wood stain ~ letting it dry between coats. I used MinWax PolyShades in Antique Walnut. It’s my go to stain. ;)

garden tutorial with wood

The staining made this garden bench! It was so pretty after I stained it. I was amazed at the results! :)

CA garden bench tutorial

CA garden bench

CA garden bench tutorial #DIY

This simple garden bench also comes in pretty handy for parties! You can see how I made this simple party backdrop over on my blog.

Simple Party Backdrop #gingersnapcrafts #makeitfuncrafts #sponsored

Thanks so much for having me over! I’ll see you again next month! :)

Simple Garden Bench at GingerSnapCrafts.com #DIY

Simple Garden Bench

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