Settee (bench)

I've always felt that the best gifts are the ones that you make.  So for my 10th wedding anniversary I decided to build my wife a bench for our new front porch.  Not just any bench would do, I wanted it to be big enough to seat all four of us comfortably, strong enough to hold me (I hate it when I set in a chair and it sounds like it's about to fall apart) and have a place to hold my iced tea. (I don't actually drink tea, but that's the kind of thing that you're supposed to drink on an old fashioned country front porch. isn't it?)  There were also 6, 20ft long pressure treated 2x4 that were left over from the construction of our house that I wanted to use. 

Again I returned to my old friend "the net", looking for some plans, but I wasn't able to find anything that I liked and would meet my requirements.  So I designed it myself.  

I drew several sketches trying to decide how exactly I wanted to build it.  I finally decided on a variation that basically looked like a bench, but the back and arms were taller (I hate short arms on a bench) and a folding center table.  It would be 6ft long, 2 1/2 at each end for people to sit and 1ft in the middle for the folding table. (that's what makes it a settee).  Folded up, we'd have plenty of room for us and the kids to sit and with it folded down my wife and I can sit and watch the sun go down and some place to put our drinks.

I used the 2x4 treated lumber for the frame and bought 1x4 pine for the seat and the back.  It's all held together with 2" pressure treated lumber screws, pre drilled and counter sunk.  I mounted all the back rails and used my skill saw the cut out the folding table.  I figured that by doing it that way that I would get all the slats lined up correctly and the folding table would be positioned properly.  It was a great idea, but difficult to actually do.  The trouble was that the skill saw was too long and it was difficult to cut the bottom rungs.  I ended up using a hand saw to finish.  I should have cut the back before I mounted the bottom.  I also should have painted the wood before I started putting everything together.  Painting was a nightmare, too many nooks and crannies.  I ended up putting 3 coats of exterior satin finish white paint on.  I hate painting!  My wife loved it!  So it was worth all the effort.  By the way I got a table saw for my anniversary present.  It would have been nice to have had while building this thing, but I'm sure it will be handy for future projects

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