Piano Bench Project - Complete

We didn't expect to paint and upholster the piano bench until the spring and nicer weather - but with some unusually warm weather today - we (as in the royal "we" being that I didn't do much other than offer moral support and the occasional bit of advice) completed it today.

For the entire project we only spent $3 - the cost of the hinges. Everything else we had on hand...scrap wood, bench padding (cut up an old exercise mat we used for camping but no longer needed), muslin fabric to cover padding (bought years ago for an embroidery project that never got off the ground), jacobean fabric (bought a year or so ago to make a pillow cover - had excess), black paint (left over from a project).

Before

After

Inside

Side View

I'm Impressed!

A month and a half ago my dh bought a digital piano. It did not come with a bench so we've been keeping an eye out for one. One problem is that the style of the piano is very plain and we wanted a bench that would match it.

Saturday morning my dh started thinking of how maybe he could MAKE his own piano bench and started just drawing up some plans (he is not a craftsman by trade!). Awhile later he sauntered out to the garage to "check on my scrap lumber". Shortly thereafter the tablesaw was screeching...

By the afternoon the bench was almost completed ... and looked great (well great in an unfinished-needing-to-be-painted way).

The bench even has a storage area under the lid. From start to finish (including the planning/drawing state) it took about 8 hours for him to get it to this built but unfinished state. It ain't beautiful as you can see...it still needs to be painted (that will happen in the spring) and we'll probably "upholster" the top, but I'm impressed that he could do all this without any plans other than his own - and that he accomplished it so quickly.

This isn't the first thing he's built without plans - he's also made a bunch of built-in-bookcases / storage shelves in our basement...but it makes me wonder what else he can build. I've been wanting a footstool and got to thinking how maybe the girl needs to have some kind of storage bench in her room...