Build Your Own Budget Friendly Farmhouse Entryway Bench

Is anyone else in love with all of the farmhouse entryway bench ideas they keep seeing on Pinterest?

When we bought our first home earlier this year, the biggest selling point for me was the massive entryway. It’s got a ton of room, plenty of natural light and it makes the perfect place for the kids to take off their boots and snow gear. 

The only problem was that it didn’t have any place for them to sit.

As I said I am absolutely in love with all the entryway bench ideas I have been seeing on Pinterest. So I started hinting to David that I wanted our next DIY Project to be a seating area. 

It didn’t take much convincing, he drew up a plan in about 15 minutes and we were ready to head to Home Depot.

The idea was to create an entryway bench with storage space underneath for shoes and hooks to hang jackets. 

Keeping the cost down was also a big deal for us. I think all in, we spent $50 on this project. 

(Now that it’s all done I absolutely love it, it’s my favorite part of the entryway!)

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Preparing For Our New Entryway Bench

David is pretty handy and has done a lot of great DIY projects in our house, but he threw the plans for this one together in 15 minutes.  I was a little skeptical.

We built this bench in a little nook in the entryway that wasn’t being used for anything. It’s a little over 4 feet wide and there is a vent duct in the wall about a foot and a half off the ground.

The vent duct would make a pretty cool feature that you’ll see later on.

Here is a list of everything we needed for the project:

• (4) – 2×6’s studs
• (5) – 1×6 square edge pine boards
• (1) – 1×2 board
• 1 1/4″ Brad Nails
• Coat Hooks
• Sand Paper
• Wood Glue
• Primer
• White Paint
• Varathane Kona Wood Stain
• Paint Brush
• Ridgid Brad Nail Gun
• Ryobi Miter Saw
• Palm Sander
• Dewalt Table Saw

Ready, Set, Build

The first thing that we had to do is build the frame to hold up the bench. We wanted it to have an open space underneath so we came up with the idea to have the frame mount to the wall instead of using legs.

When we got started we took the vent grate off the wall and realized that there were 4 layers of drywall. You read that right, 4 total layers of drywall just one over the other. 

Who needs that much drywall, it still blows my mind. In order for us to mount the frame to the wall, we had to use 4″ inch screws just to get through all the drywall and into a stud.

Once the frame was up we did decide to add some legs to the front just to make it look a little more like a built-in. We painted it all white and we’re finished with the base.

It’s Not A Seating Area Without A Bench

Building the bench seat was the longest and most challenging part of this project. You can probably imagine with a 71-year-old house, nothing is square. 

As we were cutting wood for the bench, each end had to be cut at a 1-2 degree angle so it would sit flush with the wall. This made for a really challenging bench.

We originally wanted to get a big, thick slab of wood to use but they were way too expensive. Remember, we’re frugal as f**k so we wanted to do this as cheap as possible. 

We came up with the idea to rip 2×6’s down to 5 inches wide with the table saw and glue them together.

Gluing and then sanding the boards took about a day and a half to complete. Once that was done we stained it using our favorite stain, Varathane Kona. 

We seriously love this stain and how well it goes with anything white. We have used it on both the Farmhouse Tables we have made as well as with the end tables we currently have.

After a couple of coats of stain and 3 layers of polyurethane, the benchtop was ready to be attached to the frame. Using 1 1/4″ pocket screws and our Kreg Jig we attached the bench to the frame. 

I can’t tell you how many times that Kreg Jig has come in handy. If you don’t have one and you are doing any projects involving connecting wood, you should get one.

At this point, I’m getting really excited because it’s starting to take shape and it looks awesome!!

A Place For The Kid’s Coats

The back of the entryway bench area was probably the easiest part of the whole project. We cut the 1×4″ boards to size and nailed them to the wall with our Cordless Ridgid Brad Nailer.

This little nail gun is powerful and super convenient for the projects we do. My favorite thing is it comes with a lifetime warranty like all other Ridgid Power Tools so it takes the stress out of worrying about it ever breaking.

Once we had them nailed on, all we had to do was prime and paint the boards and wall.

It took a thick coat of primer and three coats of white paint to get the look we wanted. The last thing we had to do was hang coat hooks.

We picked up three little coat hooks from Home Depot.

Our Entryway Bench Turned Out Amazing!!

It’s finally complete!

I love the way our entryway bench turned out and it was such an easy project…well for me anyway 🙂 

The best part is that Savannah has her own hook and she loves hanging her jacket on it. No more asking her to hang her jacket up every time we walk in the house.

Remember that vent duct I mentioned earlier?? 

Well, we built the bench seat right over it and now it acts as a boot warmer in cold Minnesota winters. Every time the heat kicks on it warms up my boots before I have to go out in the arctic tundra we live in. 

It’s probably one of my favorite parts of the whole project!

Just think, David wanted to put a wet bar in that space.  Look at how awesome it turned out!!

My favorite part about this bench, and the entryway in general, is making it a welcoming environment for guests.

I love decorating this area during the holidays with some of these decor tips.

So are you ready to make your own entryway bench! If so, let us know how it goes in the comments below!

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