Best Project wood

a custom built in bench

waaaay behind in my blogging ... along with a bunch of stuff in the shop, i have also gotten caught up in a good paddle tennis season, playing more than ever before ... the weather has been perfect; warm for vermont and my body has been holding up surprisingly well ... its a great, fast, outdoor winter sport. good to get outside and run around ...

we delivered this built in bench about a week and half ago, and though it looks pretty simple now that its done, there were a lot of things to think about and consider as we put it together ...
we had an inspiration photo and overall dimensions, but no angles which, since you cant tell much by sitting on a drawing, encourage us to make a full size mdf mockup, complete with foam and batting.it took an hour or two, but was well worth it and allowed us to debate the incline of both the seat and the back cushions ...
from there it was on to the cad drawings, which gave us dimensions and an actual plan to work from. the little recessed base was interesting and gave the piece a little more of a furniture look but added a few complications to the construction process start up ... lots of little offsets and surface plane differences to create shadows ...

plywood carcase designbut once the structure was defined by the plywood carcase, it was a little more straightforward as we added the layers.moving along here, about to add the ends and top rail ...
a little oil primer and paint ..

a test fit on the cushions by local upholsterer, isaiah mccauliffe, and we were out the door. in the top picture above, the carpenters will cut the baseboard and fit the bench top to the wall when the clients table arrives, for the complete built in look .. nice house ...