Bianca the Bench

My buddy Dip and I embarked on re-purposing discarded dining room chairs into a bench. This blog served as our inspiration: http://www.raisingdickandjane.com

Dip found the starting foundation to the bench - two discarded dining room chairs.

Discarded chairs found in the trash pile

Once we got them in the workshop (aka garage), we removed the seat cushion and backing fabric.

First things first - remove all the fabric.

Use pliers to remove fabric staples

Meet my new miter saw!  I named her Melanie miter.  She is my best pal when I need to cut wood.

To avoid putting a screw through the chair frame, we added additional framing to the existing chair seat supports. 

Then we flipped the chairs over on top of the wood boards to use as seats and screwed the boards into the supports from the bottom to avoid visible screw heads. The boards consist of a 1x6x8 piece of pine that we had cut in half at the hardware store, leaving two 48" boards to use as the bench seat.

We used a spacer between the boards

We used wood clue to secure the middle piece as well as the front and back rounded edges. 

Clamps used to hold pieces in place

 After everything dried, it was time for sanding.

Because the chairs had a very glossy black lacquer finish, I spent a while sanding to ensure a dull finish for the primer to sink into.

I primed the chair frames before painting with an exterior paint.

Meet Bianca the Bench! Isn't she a beauty! She is wearing BEHR in the color Spring Stream. She found a new home on our porch and will serve as seating for the dining area section.

Happy DIY'ing!