Why spend a lot of money on garden furniture when you can build it yourself and save money? We will show you how to implement this project correctly.
Is there anything more relaxing than sitting in the garden on a beautiful summer day, feeling the warm summer rays on your face and watching the bees collecting nectar? Yes! When you can sit comfortably and feast on freshly baked cakes. Therefore, in this article, we reveal how you can build a garden bench with a coffee table yourself in no time at all.
What materials are suitable?
When it comes to garden furniture, most people will think of wood, but in recent years metal and concrete have also become increasingly popular. We therefore compare the various materials and their advantages and disadvantages in the following table:
wood
✔ Wood scores with a rustic charm.
✔ Garden benches made of wood are very robust and, with the right coating, also weather-resistant.
✔ The material requires little maintenance.
✘ The varnish should be renewed once or twice a year to protect the wood from sunlight and moisture.
✘ Wood works under the temperatures.
Metal
✔ Metal looks very modern and elegant.
✔ Purchased metal benches often enchant with filigree details.
✔ Properly installed, even wind and storms can damage a metal garden bench.
✔ Due to the high stability, metal benches are also suitable for heavier people.
✘ Metal heats up in warm temperatures.
✘ Without an appropriate surface primer, rust may occur.
Concrete
✔ Concrete benches are very solid and durable. Significantly more robust than plastic, wood or metal.
✔ Also weather and temperature influences
✔ As a natural material, concrete scores with a good ecological balance and is sustainable.
✘ Building a concrete garden bench yourself is usually a bit trickier, as adjusting the parts is more time-consuming.
✘ If the concrete has been poured too freshly and has not hardened properly, unsightly cracks can form.
We think the choice of most DIYers is a wooden bench for conveniencewill fall. Therefore, here are instructions for building a garden bench with a wooden coffee table.
Important considerations
The following questions should be clarified before construction:
Which wood do you prefer?
Wood is not just wood! While soft types of wood are very susceptible to fungi and insects, the hardwood of larch, for example, already offers good protection against fungi and insects. But even acids and bad weather conditions have little effect on the robust material. In addition to larch wood, eucalyptus, robinia, teak or cedar wood are also ideal for processing for garden furniture due to the essential oils in the material.How big should the seat be?
When planning the garden bench, it should be considered how many people will later be able to sit on it. The seat width should be at least 45 centimeters. At least, because people with a larger girth need significantly more space to be able to sit comfortably. The seat depth, on the other hand, should be 43 to 50 centimeters so that the buttocks have enough space.How high should the backrest be?
A height of 50 centimeters is sufficient for a garden bench for children. For adults, however, a higher supine position should be planned.How high should the seat be?
Of course, this is also a matter of taste. A seat height of 45 to 50 centimeters makes sense so that seniors and children can also sit down without any problems.Is a curved seat preferred?
If so, the wood of the seat must later be planed accordingly.Should armrests be added?
If you want it really comfortable, you should definitely plan for armrests. Due to human anatomy, a mounting height of 20 to 28 centimeters is ideal. We recommend a width of 5 to 10 centimetres.Tip! Angled armrests are not only a visual highlight, they are also extremely comfortable. However, an angle of 15 degrees should not be exceeded here.
How big and high should the table be?
With a coffee table, it is recommended that the table is higher than the seat height so that you can sit comfortably at it. Alternatively, the table can of course also be lower so that it can be used more as a place to put coffee, cake and other things.Garden bench with coffee table - these materials are required
- Squared timber
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- z. B. 6×6 cm for the base of the benches
- z. B. 8×10 cm for the table
- The length of the squared timber varies according to theplanned length of the bank. If, for example, two people are to be seated on the bench, a length of 1 meter makes sense. We have already summarized further information on this under “Important preliminary considerations”.
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- Hand planer, electric planer or planing machine for smoothing the surface of the wood
- Jigsaw, circular saw or crosscut and miter saw to shorten the wood
- Pencil and ruler for measuring and marking lengths.
- Orbital sander for breaking and smoothing the edges
- Dowel router or domino router to prepare the dowel holes
- Construction adhesive to connect the parts
- Protractor for checking inclination angles
- Wood protection or oil for glazing the wood - here you either have the choice between colorless variants, whereby the rustic charm of the material is retained. Alternatively, there are also colored paints that can be used to paint the garden bench in a color of your choice.
Step by step instructions: building a garden bench
❶ First, the workplace should be prepared. We definitely recommend two trestles for this in order to be able to work on the wood comfortably.
❷ Now we start planing the squared timber evenly to free the surfaces of any splinters and other sources of danger. To make sure everything is caught, this step should be repeated several times. You can test whether everything is nice and smooth by carefully running your palm over the surfaces. But be careful: wear work gloves to avoid injuries!
❸ Now the squared timber can be shortened with a jigsaw, circular saw or with a mini circular saw. Of course, the desired lengths should be marked with a pencil and folding rule beforehand, so that they are all the same length.
❹ Once the cut is done, the edges should be sanded down with an orbital sander. This also makes them nice and smooth and makes painting easier later.
❺ Now the long squared timbers can be connected one by one. For this purpose, holes for the dowels should first be milled out with the help of the dowel cutter or domino cutter. Then all the parts are laid out to see if everything fits. The construction adhesive is then applied to the connection points, the dowels are inserted, the parts are pushed together and pressed so that the adhesive can do its work.
❻ This step is repeated with all flashings until thebank is ready.
❼ Meanwhile, it should be checked again and again whether the overall picture is consistent. does everything hold? Is the lateral distance between the feet and the seat the same?
❽ When attaching the squared timber for the backrest, it makes sense not to mount it at a 90 degree angle to the seat. The reason for this is the natural posture of our back, which is not perpendicular to the pelvis. Therefore, the squared timber for the backrest should be sanded. To ensure that the angle is identical, it should be checked repeatedly with a protractor during the cutting process.
❾ When the bench is finished, the wood should be treated with an appropriate protection or wood oil. A primer can also help to protect the wood from fungal attack or discoloration. Two to three layers of wood protection have proven themselves in practice - but be careful: the paint should be allowed to dry out between glazing!
Tips for building a coffee table
After the wooden garden bench is finished, it's time to build the coffee table. You can choose between a foldable and a standing table.
Folding table
If you want to put down a cup or a book, you can mount a wooden board on the armrest. If the board is to be foldable, the use of hinges or folding consoles is recommended. This means the table can easily be lowered when not in use.
Note: If you want to put a laptop or something heavy on it, you should use large hinges to ensure optimal stability.
Standing Table
Apart from that, you can of course also choose a real coffee table. In this case, when purchasing the materials required for the garden bench, flat squared timber for the table legs and optionally for the table top should be planned if no wooden board is to be used.
There are different variants for assembly:
➜ very simple:
In the first step, the four table legs are set up. Now the table top can be mounted on it with brackets.
➜ more stable and robust:
Instead of attaching the table surface directly to the legs and leaving it at that, side braces made of squared timber can be used to create a to create framework. The table top is placed on this wooden frame and mounted on it.
➜ self-made table top:
If you don't want a whole wooden board as a table top, butinstead several frame or squared timbers can of course also do this. The advantage of this is that rainwater can run off better and does not collect on the table top.
You can see how to build a table out of squared timber in the video:
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Care tips for wood products
The maintenance required varies depending on the type of wood. While garden furniture made of soft woods such as pine, beech or spruce must be sanded and varnished regularly, hardwoods such as e.g. E.g. larch is much easier to care for.
Regardless of the type of wood, the garden bench and coffee table should be thoroughly cleaned at the beginning and end of the gardening season. Avoid aggressive cleaning agents that, in the worst case, damage the paintwork. A soapy solution made of natural soap is optimal, which thanks to vegetable oils cares for the material and supports a regreasing of the wood. After cleaning, the bench only needs to be cleaned of soap residue and rubbed dry.
» Important note: Although microfibre cloths are easy to use, they damage the wood by removing important oils. It is better to use simple cotton cloths, sponges or brushes.
After cleaning, we recommend treating the wood with a care oil. In this way, the wood remains protected. But beware: colorless oils usually do not offer UV protection. This can give the wood an unsightly gray tinge. It is therefore essential to pay attention to the manufacturer's instructions in this regard. Cotton cloths are again suitable for application, but pads and brushes do not attack the wood any further.