I don’t like dressers. I feel like they often take up a lot of space and aren’t useful for anything other than storing clothes. Though I hang up the majority of my clothes, I needed find a better storage solution for folded items than 1) piles of clothes on the top shelf of my closet and 2) plastic storage bins. What did I do? I set out to build a storage bench/seat for my room.

Now, I’ll start off saying I did not and possibly could not have done this on my own. Once again the most amazing partner ever stepped in to help me design the bench, pick out supplies, and taught me how to use a power saw (which is amazingly scary, btw). There was a lot of trial and error (mainly because I am not so good at cutting straight), but I ended up with something that I absolutely love!

I measured the space in my room where I wanted the bench to go. Afterwards, I used those measurements to make the frame.

Thank God we have a basement…I didn’t have to do this outside in the cold. Using a power saw is invigorating and scary. Luckily, it didn’t matter too much if the cuts were super straight and the ones I messed up terribly, Avery fixed them for me.

Here’s the frame made from 2×3’s. It’s 4ft long, 2ft tall and 2ft wide.

Next, I had to add a bottom, top, and sides.

At this point, all I needed to do was add a cushion and fabric. (btw–the baskets came from target)

Next, I stapled the cushion to the the top of the bench and then covered with fabric.

All in all, wood + fabric + cushion + baskets cost about $75. I’m sure there were cheaper options (I thought about buying a thrifted trunk and just adding a seat), but I really wanted to learn to cut wood and assemble this from scratch. Plus, I wanted to make sure I had enough room to store the items I wanted to.  I’m pleased with how it turned out!

Until next time,

A.Reese