This bench is one piece of an entryway set I designed: the bench, the cubby shelves with boxes, and the coat rack above. The bench is an open slatted oak top on a painted steel base. The design goals included creating an efficient and accessible storage solution, a narrower bench that would allow for easier access to the shelves, and a wider and stronger coat rack to hold coats for lots of guests.
The woodwork was a collaboration with Jeff Lade of JL Builders - a master carpenter, home builder and cabinet-maker. And Zach Lade did the laser engraving and sprayed finish on the wood.
Designed for the room
We spent some time modeling and mocking up the entry space. This helped the client to nail down exact size and fit: where the bench sits relative to the door, how it lines up with the shelves, and how much floor space it leaves. The original design had arms, but the spec preference changed to a clean, open top.
Shop Drawings and Design
The top is 35 by 17-1/4 in and sits about 17 in off the floor.
The array of long boards stand on edge. Three cross pieces run front to back, notched to fit together with half-lap joints. The ends of the cross pieces pass through and lock into the front face board, appearing as small squares. The face board is slightly taller than the rest, dropping slightly below the mounting plane to obscure the seam between the metal and wood.
Designing for the real board
Jeff was building the top from my plans, and I knew he would know how to handle the construction, so I just included notes to account for planed thickness of the boards. 3/4″ boards will be slightly thinner after going through the planer. With 33 half-laps in the grid, accounting for final thickness would be necessary to avoid joint gaps.
Same thinking on the steel. Powder coat adds up to about 0.006 in per face, so the arm design added 1/32 in to the wood slot that fits over the steel top plate. That detail went away with the arms, but it is the kind of thing that decides whether parts go together by hand or with a mallet.
Finishing touches
The NickWorks logo is laser engraved on the face board, and the right end carries Jeff’s signature and mine, with the year.
[Nick: build notes here. Wood species, Zach’s finish, how the top attaches to the base, who did the steel, anything else worth telling.]
[Link to the entry shelves post here once it is up.]
If you have a space that needs a piece built for it, I am available for hire.