DIY Outdoor Bench: Stylish and Simple on a Budget
Build a stylish DIY outdoor bench with this easy tutorial! Perfect for your garden, patio, or backyard, and budget-friendly too. No nails or screws required!
Skills Required: Beginner. You’ll learn how to make a bench the easiest way possible. I believe the most difficult part of this DIY project is using a table saw, which isn’t really hard (take your time!).
Every porch or outdoor space needs a bench, at least that’s what Steve and I decided the other day. Actually Steve has had the concept for this beautiful bench in his head for a while.
He had looked around at garden benches and wanted to make something without screws and hardware . . . completely with adhesive.
Yet he had some other qualifications as well – the bench had to be modern, inexpensive, load bearing (no falling apart please), and look great. We also wanted it to be an easy woodworking project so anyone could do it.
This DIY outdoor bench project meets all those qualifications and more!
Here’s how this bench came about. It was quite a coincidence that we were flipping through a Williams Sonoma Home catalog the other day and found this Larnaca Outdoor Coffee Table that looks somewhat similar . .
yet has one BIG difference. The Larnaca coffee table costs $1,295, while Steve’s version is $35. Now, ours is outdoor seating while the Larnaca is technically a coffee table, but the idea is the same. You can always modify the size of this DIY outdoor bench to fit your desired specifications.
So here’s how to build this bench, with a finished size of 16″ high x 40″ long x 13.5″ deep. You’ll find that building a bench is much easier than you think! Here’s how we built this piece of furniture.
Gather These Supplies
- Regular 2 x 4s – pine, not pressure treated (see Cut List below; also you may want to use pressure treated wood if your bench is going to be exposed to the elements, though it is more expensive)
- Exterior grade Liquid Nails or Titebond III (or other construction adhesive made for wood)
- Bar clamps
- Thompson’s WaterSeal and Stain (Nutmeg)
- Paintbrush
- Rag
- Table saw
- T-square – or something to make sure edges are square
- Hand held belt sander with a 80-grit and 120-grit
- Sanding blocks – 80-grit and 120-grit
- Surface protection – cardboard box, tarp, etc
- Optional – drill and four feet if you don’t want the bench to touch the patio or ground directly
Cut List – you might notice that the measurements don’t quite add up – this is because the ends were milled off and sanded to get the resulting finished size bench.
- 33.5″ long (five pieces)
- 40″ long (four pieces)
- 16″ long (ten pieces)
- 12.75″ long (eight pieces)
We already had a rain here so I also wanted to show you how well the stain works – the water just pools on top and comes right off . . . no soaking into the wood!
We hope you enjoy our DIY outdoor bench! The printable tutorial is below. Also I keep getting questions about the planters – I did make those as well! Find them here.
DIY Bench
Equipment
- Bar clamps
- 1 Belt sander
- 1 T-Square
Materials
- Regular 2 x 4s – pine see cut list in notes
- Wood glue we used Titebond III
- Thompson's WaterSeal
- Rag(s)
- Sanding block 80-grit and 120-grit
- Cardboard box or other surface protection
Video
Instructions
- Using the table saw, “mill” the 2″ edges of every piece of wood so that you get a very square edge (as opposed to the rounded edges that come on a 2×4). This will give your bench a more modern look.
- Cut the pieces of wood according to the cut list in the notes. Keep in mind, these measurements produced a finished bench that is 16″ high x 40″ long x 13.5″ deep . . . AND a little extra was left for the milling and sanding process. If you want to customize the size of your bench, you’ll need to adjust these cut lengths.
- Use your pieces to create a box joint. Place a 40″ piece of wood on the ground, with a 33.5″ piece in the center. On each end, you’ll place a 16″ long piece perpendicular to the other two pieces, as shown in the photo above. Make sure everything is even and as flush as possible (and use a t-square or other item if necessary to for a right angle), then glue into place and clamp.
- Add Liquid Nails to the wood, setting it up in your pattern as shown in the final image then adding clamps to hold it together. Remember that you’re doing a modified box joint, so you’ll have one long piece of wood, then one short piece, then long, then short, and so on.
- Once your bench is full assembled, keep it clamped and let it dry overnight.
- Undo the clamps and sand with the belt sander to get everything even. Don’t forget to sand with the grain! Sand until it’s completely smooth and flat. Do this on the legs, too. Then wipe away all of the sanding dust.
- Use stain to paint the bench. Applying stain is relatively easy. You can use a brush, paint it on, then wipe it off. Seal with Thompson's Water Seal.
- Add furniture feet to keep your bench off of the ground. Drill a hole, insert the foot, and repeat on all four corners of the bench bottom.
Notes
- 33.5″ long (five pieces)
- 40″ long (four pieces)
- 16″ long (ten pieces)
- 12.75″ long (eight pieces)
- organize the pieces of wood without gluing FIRST so that you understand how the bench goes together;
- begin at one end of your bench and start assembling with the Liquid Nails, using the clamps as placeholders as you go along;
- continue add Liquid Nails, wood, and increase the size of your box clamps until the bench is fully assembled
What do you think? If you have any similar projects or if you’ve done something like this and would like to share your tips, we’d love to hear them in the comments! Thank you!
If you love DIY benches, I’ve got another one you’re going to want to check out: Crate and Barrel Inspired Entry Bench. AND if you want to see another inspired knockoff we did – check out our West Elm DIY coffee table. We made it for $45 . . . original price of $999!
I built this and like it a lot. That said the resulting bench is 16″ high which is awkwardly low for taller people or older people and is more comfortable at 17.5-18.5″. I actually made a pair of trestle style feet to raise the finished bench and the results are Ok but the basic look of this bench was not improved by this modification, if the function was. Suggestion – measure the height of a comfortable seat that you like and then ratio up the dimensions to preserve the proportions this will require longer material and result in more scrap but the end result is going to be more pleasing to use.
A second thing that I did was use pocket joinery to make each frame. Which allows this to be assembled more quickly. Note that the last frame needs to be made with the pockets on the opposite side so that they’re hidden. While I have a lot of clamps I also used wood screws when gluing the frames together. The resulting bench is very sturdy and a little heavy. It is strong enough that you might select 2X4s of lighter weight.
Great tips Cliff! We’re shorter so that totally make sense. 😀
This is a great bench! The measurements are incorrect though. The 12 3/4 need to be 12 1/2 and the 33 1/2 need to be 33 to get the overall length and height right.
Height 16″ = 12.5+3.5
Length 40″ = 33 + 3.5 + 3.5
Great project guys!
Great post. I have been looking for this style forever. Thank God for Ana White, which directed me here. I want to do this style as a sofa table. How can I add a little height and width and get the correct measurements?
Hi,
Just wondering how this bench has held up in the last 18 months considering you used adhesives only and left out in the weather.
Any chance you coud post an updated photo?
Cheers
Nathanael
Can’t wait to build one
what is the kb measurement
Hi Thomas!I’m not sure what that means?
I thought I’d share the cut list I used.
7 – 8 footers
2 @ 40″+40″+12.75″
3 @ 33.5″+16″+16″+16″+12.75″
1 @ 33.5″+33.5″+12.75″+12.75″
1 @ 16″+12.75″
Probably could’ve used 4 – 8 footers and 2 – 10’s but I wanted to make sure I had extra in case I made a mistake.
Do you think this is viable as a desk by making the legs taller?
We don’t see why not! You may have to put some extra elbow grease into making the top perfectly smooth (if that’s what you want). So a lot more sanding. The bench is pretty smooth but not completely as smooth as a single piece of wood would be. 😀 If you do this project please share!
Thank you for sharing! I used this technique, turned sideways to make a base for a fire pit with concrete top. It turned out beautifully. Thanks for the tips!!
Awesome Steven! Glad you enjoyed it!
Hello, I felt in love with this bench and I want to make my own one!
Can you just send me the measures/sizes converted in cm?
Thank you,
Greetings form Belgium