When we began planning our home remodel this year, I always knew I wanted to incorporate a cute yet functional banquette-style seat and small table in my eat-in kitchen. Since I have 3 young kids, the banquette area needed to be multi-purpose and serve as a place for both homework and quick meals. When I started looking online for banquette style seats, I found many options but they were very pricey and wouldn’t fit exactly as I needed them to. Plus with three messy kids, I wanted seating that would be easy to clean… this meant avoiding expensive fabric cushions that would get ruined in the first week.
I have been following Ashley & Whitney from Shanty2Chic on Pinterest for years and love their style and the type of furniture they create. Even if you aren’t familiar with these sisters’ mad carpentry skills, you have probably seen their gorgeous floating shelves that dominate home decor feeds. This sister duo also makes tables, benches, barn doors, and floating nightstands to name a few. A couple months ago they happened to post an Instagram picture of a DIY window bench. Immediately I knew the shape and style of this bench fit would perfectly in my kitchen, plus everything they make is budget friendly. The Shanty2Chic sisters are so awesome because they provide you free plans and step-by-step instructions on how to do all of their projects on their website: shanty-2-chic.com. They also have a YouTube channel and a great show on HGTV called Open Concept.
After reviewing their directions for the bench and looking through the step-by-step photos, we decided this would be perfect for our kitchen. The next day my husband and I went to our second home (Home Depot) and picked up the lumber required to build the bench. For the plywood, 2x4s, and 3 table legs we spent a total of $95…a total bargain as the banquette seats I was looking at online were well over $1000.
Here is a picture of our kitchen prior to the install:
The flooring we installed is an in-stock tile from Home Depot, which is a wood-look tile in a hexagon pattern. We really liked it because it was so different from anything we had ever seen. It was on the pricier side though at $5 a sq ft. but it looks really unique. My wall color is Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore, my favorite color ever and is in almost every room in my house.
The really nice thing about the plans we used is that you can customize them to your space. We were able to make our bench fix the exact dimensions of our wall. Plus I have windows on both sides in this area so I needed a bench that was low and had no back. Luckily Home Depot and Lowe’s had lots of options for different legs that are in-stock and ready to take home. The legs we chose were actually longer than these at first but we cut them to size.
After the bench was sanded, it was time for paint. I used a Benjamin Moore semi-gloss and the color is White Dove. I did a total of two coats and the painted surface is easy to wipe clean. Plus I figure if it ever gets really scratched or stained, I could sand and repaint if necessary.
The white pillows are from Pier1 and the ikat pillows are from Etsy. The crates below the bench are from World Market. To complete this area we are also making a custom table with a trestle base. Here is the finished product:
If you have any questions or comments please let me know. Overall we found this to be an easy carpentry project that the typical homeowner would be able to do. Just be sure to measure correctly and sand the wood to a super smooth finish. We hope you enjoyed it and look forward to sharing our DIY table in an upcoming blog post.
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