Nursery: Bench for the Built-Ins

In order to make the top of my bench seat look seamless, I realized I would need to make a better-defined "top." Otherwise, I'd spend my days obsessing over the gap between the two TV stands making up the bench. Well, never fear, because I have an idea!


Meet my idea! Two 9.5" wide wood boards. 




I cut them to size and got to work staining them, using my trusty dark walnut stain.


I applied one coat...


...and then a second coat. Lovely!


I dry-fit them into place and was already in love.


I used screws that were the *perfect* length to go through the wood boards and just into the top of the bench.


Ta da!! Of course, I didn't think to remove my curtain rod from the top of the bench when I took the picture, but we'll chalk that up to this not being the final-final reveal, ok?


Here's my shopping list for this project, in case you'd like to try it for yourself.


Cheers!!
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Comments

  1. What size screws did you use? I love this idea. :)

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  2. They were around 2" I believe...maybe a hair shorter.

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  3. I like this idea but I noticed the Hemmes TV stand offered at IKEA now is different (3 drawer instead of 2) and it shows a max weight of 110 lbs. I was thinking to use the BYAS TV stand ($119) instead because it's 63"W and I would only need one for my window. The BYAS also shows as 110 lbs max weight, so I'm concerned about two teen girls sitting on it at the same time. Did you ever have a problem with more weight on your bench?

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    Replies
    1. We haven't had issues, but the majority of the weight gets put on the center of our bench where the two Hemmes units come together, which gives us increased capacity. For teen girls with a single bench, you may want to look into ways to reinforce it.

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    2. Hi, it looks great and I am thinking of doing the same, but I am running into the same issue. I think I will have to take off the baseboard on one side as well. Do you think it would be hard to put it back if I need to? Also, how would you reinforce a single hemnes unit? I am using the older hemnes model (72 inch long). What you did by putting the wood board on top, isn't that reinforcing, or did you mean something else in the above comment? Although I only have 2 small kids, I want to make sure it is sturdy. Thanks!

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    3. Hi Anne! No, I don't think it would be difficult to reattach the base board later on if it is removed fairly cleanly. Or, you can always purchase single piece of matching baseboard for $10 or less, and cut a small piece to size and reattach that. As far as reinforcing a single unit, that's a bit out of my pay grade, lol. It would be a matter of making sure the top of the unit doesn't start bending in the middle and can support the weight of growing kids -- adding the wood top might address that, but I'm not 100% sure if that would adequately reinforce it. Sorry I couldn't be more help!!

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