DIY DINING BENCH

We somehow managed to build our own DIY dining room bench seat and it actually turned out way better than expected. We've just done up our kitchen and dining room so we really wanted to create a nice dining and hosting area. I love the idea of a bench seat to make sure that we could also get loads of storage in. So we started by building the basic frame. I say we, I mean Rory, I literally was just watching him do this. He basically started by building the basic frame to make sure it fit perfectly along the wall and also make sure that it was strong enough to actually use. Because we're going to use it for storage, we made sure to shorten board up all of the inside and also nailed it in. So we basically just build a bottom frame, a top frame and just make sure you've got enough runs to make it strong enough. And then once we had the basic structure done, it was time to start paneling. So we got these sheets of tongue and groove paneling. We've used this all over the house and Rory also cut little squares around this plug socket as well. So we did it normally in my pajamas, but this was a Sunday morning when we were doing this. So we stuck the paneling on and then we also stuck a dado rail on the top as well. I think it finishes off the paneling really nicely and looks really nice and neat. So we stuck and nailed the paneling all around the bench seat and then also attached our skirting around the bottom as well. We did go to B&Q and get some MDF cut so it was really nice and neat and we also picked up some piano hinges as well to make sure that we could lift the top on and off. And then I just went around and did all of the caulking and then I was ready to paint. So follow for part two to see how we styled and decorated.