Breakfast Nook Bench 1

I am totally proud of myself! I built something that's like real furniture! Like, it's made of more than just soft pine 2x4s!

 

This is the first (experimental) of the two planned kitchen nook benches. I made a couple of bone-headed measurement errors, though they were cheaply and easily fixed. My real hangup was the hinges for the bench lid. I have a bad record keeping hinges straight and even. After an evening spent plugging and re-drilling screw holes, the joint is even enough and I just hope the problem hinge will warp into place after it is sat upon awhile.

I didn't find furniture-grade wood for the curvy bench ends as thickly as I wanted it, and ended up buying 3/4" birch plywood instead. I'll see how it goes- if they feel cheap and flimsy when attached.

My goal as a novice carpenter is to have these benches feel as if they are original to the house, and as the original nook pantry woodwork has a rough, nearly primitive feel inside its guts, it doesn't concern me that I didn't use fancy joints, and that the bench lid is two pieces of wood (carefully) joined with braces. The bench's weight alone makes it very sturdy. Fat Cat is kindly demonstrating this.