DIY Rustic Skinny Bench

Everywhere I look I’ve been seeing these antique skinny benches. They are so versatile because of their size and they add such a beautiful texture and depth to any space. I love everything about them… except the price tag.

Antique skinny benches are typically listed between $400-$900! Crazy right?! I’m going to show you how to make one with just two pieces of inexpensive lumber. I used a 2×2 furring strip for $2.48 and a 2×8 board of white fir for $12.22, bringing the grande total of this bench build to $14.70! Which is an absolute steal compared to $400-$900.

AGING THE WOOD

To age the wood I’m going to basically beat these new boards to death, haha. For real, I am using Jenna Sue’s wood aging technique to make these new boards look like they’ve been sitting around for years.

I determined that I want my bench to be 5 feet in length, so I cut my 2×8 board down to 5 feet. I left the 2×2 furring strip at the full 8-foot length for now.

To begin the aging process, we need to randomly plane the wood with a handheld planer. You’ll want to really give it some deep gouges, especially on the edges of the boards.

Next, I took my reciprocating saw to the edges of the boards to leave some nice deep cuts and saw marks.

At this point, it will feel like you’re undoing all that work you’ve just done, but it’s time to sand. I used my orbital sander and went over everything to smooth it all out.

And lastly, the true trick to aging wood… a wire brush. I started with a handheld wire brush and quickly switched to a power drill-operated wire brush. It certainly made the work go a lot faster. Go over the wood with your wire brush to scuff it up as much as possible.

BUILDING THE BENCH

Not going to lie, this was tricky! These particular benches use a mortise and tenon joint, so it really helps if you have the right tools to create this type of wood joint. It was challenging for me since I did not have the correct tools— but, nevertheless, I made it work with what I had.

Think of the mortise and tenon joint as a peg in a hole. To make the “peg” (aka the bench legs) I cut my aged 2×2 furring strip down to four boards, 20” in length. On each 20” board I made a mark (all the way around) 1 ½” from the end of the board. Time to notch out the “peg”! I set the blade on my table saw really low, only about ¼” high, and made a bunch of passes through on all four sides of the board, while only notching out that 1 ½” area. After you have a lot of notches in your wood, you can clean it up with chisel or stiff putty knife. Repeat for all 4 “pegs” (bench legs).

Now we need a hole for the peg to go into. On the aged 2×8 board, measure in a few inches and find a good spot for your bench legs. Mine are set at 8” in from the right and left ends of the board and about 1″ in from the front and back of the board. I just took my “peg” and traced it right on the 2×8 board. To cut out the square hole for the “peg” I started by drilling a hole (for my jigsaw blade) and then cut out the square shape with my jigsaw.

OPTIONAL BRACE

There is an optional brace you can add between the two legs on each side. I just used a scrap piece of 1×2 board (same aging process and same process for the peg and hole) to add between the bench legs. My brace is 10” in length and there is 1 ½” notched out on each side.

ASSEMBLING THE BENCH

It requires a little bit of trial and error to get everything to fit just right. You may need to angle the square hole a little to get your bench leg to sit at an angle and not just straight up and down. It also helps if your “peg” fits a little loosely in the hole so you have a little wiggle room to work with.

Once everything fits correctly, it’s time to secure the bench in a more permanent way. Add wood glue to all of your “peg” notches and reassemble the bench.

FINDING A STAIN

Honestly, deciding on a stain was the hardest part of the whole process. After many, many sample cans of stain, I decided it would be best to layer three different types of stains/finishes.

I started by covering the bench with a semi-solid coat of Benjamin Moore Arborcoat deck stain in Dunmore Cream. This process barely changed the color of the wood, but it neutralized the wood to give it a nice even tone. I followed the deck stain with an aged wood accelerator. Lastly, I finished the piece with a paste finishing wax in dark walnut.

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