We have two bay windows on the main floor of our house and I've been itching to build window seats. What craftsman-style home doesn't have one?! This one. This builder-grade, merely 17 year old one. I find it so odd that the houses in our neighborhood all have craftsman-style qualities on their exteriors but are plain Jane on the interiors. One day, we will switch to hard-wood floors and I'll add as many details as I can to complete the look. For now, I will settle for a window seat in the dining room (which is really the gaming room, for our family).
A friend of ours had a new set of stairs built in his garage and had a lot of lumber left over. He offered the lot to us and I immediately accepted! Now, I could have bought all new or I could have used some of this stash for the structure of the seat and then bought something nicer for the outside. However, I thought it would be interesting to see how far I could get with just these materials and avoid buying much at all.
I had an outlet and a floor vent to consider and the outlet had to be worked around from the very beginning. 2 x 6s were screwed directly into studs in the walls for optimum stability.
Then, I added more supports to finish the shape of the main seating area.
Full support structure complete! Next it was time to wrap it in plywood. *Oh my goodness, those blinds are filthy! They usually stay open all the time so I never noticed.*
When placing the boards, I noticed that the trim around the windows needed to be pulled because it was in the way. I plan on adding completely different trim around the windows anyway so this wasn't a problem. Also, I decided that I wanted to have a piece in the middle that opens for storage so I needed to add a 1 x 5 to the back of the seat to bring the hinged area away from the wall a bit and get better clearance. This left a great spot to add an outlet to the top.
I nailed the triangle pieces down on the sides and then made sure the middle section fit and functioned well as a lid.
I wrapped the front with plywood as well but left a section in the middle to direct the floor vent. That took some extra ductwork and a grate but it turned out nicely.
So, as far as extra materials bought, I had to pick up ductwork, a grate and a bunch of trim. I already had wood filler, sandpaper, stain and poly. The trim really finished it off nicely.
Then I had to start my most dreaded step. I hate the detail work. I love the results but the work is frustrating.
I do crack up looking at the results of the wood filler. It always reminds me of a person with chicken pox with medicine on each spot.
I don't mind the sanding so much.
It always feels great to see the finished product though!
At some point, I will add trim from floor to ceiling in the bay window area so that I can hide those sill cords and make the whole thing look nicer. Also, I need to add walls to the inside of the seat and stain it and then poly the whole thing. I almost never finish anything completely at first. I think, one day, I will write a whole post about finishing touches to all of my projects. I leave a lot "for later". Here's a peek at the inside...
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