Since we had already cut the lumber into the pieces we needed, our next task was to determine which pieces needed some additional work before we could assemble. Although the original plan called for assembling the bench with nails and wood glue, we wanted something a little more durable for the actual structural parts of the bench (and, I'll admit, we wanted another chance to use the cool thing we bought for the bed project). This cool thing is called a Kreg Jig, and it makes it super easy to join pieces of wood using pocket hole screws.
A pocket hole is basically a long shallow hole drilled on the underside or backside of a piece of wood, which you can then slip a screw into and use a long bit to drive it into the second piece. The benefit is that pocket holes are very easy to conceal, and they give a nice clean look to your finished product because you can't see the screw holding everything together. In the picture above, we have the Kreg Jig clamped to the underside of what will become the bottom shelf of our bench, and once it's clamped on you just slide the drill bit into the blue part and away you go. This is what pocket holes look like once they're drilled:
After we finished drilling all our pocket holes, it was time for assembly! This bench is a simple box composed of the bottom shelf, the top shelf, two sides, and two cubby dividers, all of which we joined with the pocket holes. Here's the basic box plus the seat back, which we also attached with pocket holes due to its shape:
After the main assembly was finished, it was time to haul out the compressor and the finish nailers and attach the trim. To the basic box above, we added a seat (right on top of the top shelf), two arm pieces, and toekicks on each side and on the front.
At this point, the bench as shown in the plan was complete (minus the back, which I'll finish separately and add at the very end of the project). Very sharp-eyed readers may notice that there's a little more to this bench than what I described above - there are a few pieces of simple trim along the seat back, the underside of the seats, and the top of the side toekicks. Here is one of my top tips for building furniture: trim is your best friend. It lets you customize your project any way you like, and hides a multitude of sins. Popped a nail through where you shouldn't have, or two edges didn't quite meet up where they should? Throw some trim over it and no one will ever know! Here's a close-up:
The next step will be sanding and finishing, for which we've chosen a dark walnut stain. Tune in next time for the finished project!
