Weddingbee Blog

We decided to create some DIY wood benches…

a.) to further enhance our laid-back, rustic vibe, and

b.) to ease some of the expense of renting so many chairs.

We will be renting some tables and chairs, but I thought some wooden benches would be cute to have around the fire (AKA the s’mores station!) and scattered about for some extra seating.

First, my dad took a chainsaw to some tree stumps that were left over around the house that we burned down. He measured the length from the floor to the seat of his kitchen-table chairs and used that as a guideline for the height of the stumps.

Then Mr. B took some boards that we had in our garage and stained them. We wanted it to look a little more rustic than just a regular stained board, though, so he just used an old rag and lightly rubbed on the stain. He put on just enough to give the plain boards a little color that went with the natural wood grain. He then took a wire brush and scratched it over the board to rough it up a bit. Sorry that I don’t have pictures of the process this time! He got bored while I wasn’t home one day and already had it done when I got home. He did some longer boards for longer benches and some shorter ones for shorter benches.

Here is the finished product of one of the shorter benches:

I’m not sure yet if he plans to nail/screw the boards down or use a heavy-duty wood glue, but I’m sure we’ll wait to do that part until we move them to the reception location so that the pieces will be easier to transport. I’ll keep you updated, though! Oh, and remember my new bunting obsession? I’m thinking a little bunting draped at the bottom of the boards could be pretty freakin’ adorable! I’ll have to see what I can come up with on that.

With the stumps not used for benches, Mr. B also cut me some wood slabs to use for some of my centerpieces…or whatever other crazy idea that I come up with by then. :) A chainsaw was used to cut these as well.

How are your DIY projects coming along? Anyone else planning to have some bench seating around the reception?