boot bench

I've been working on a boot bench since March. At least that's when I printed these plans.
http://www.outdoorlife.com/articles/do-it-yourself/2007/09/boot-bench

I bought the wood in August or September, then did some cutting in October and then the bench got shelved for the previous 2 posts, among other things.

I modified the plans a bit. They tell you to buy a 36" stair tread and then cut off 1/3rd of it. Seems a bit silly to me, so I left it at 36". They also suggested using pine for the sides and base. I didn't like that idea so I went with red oak (because Home Depot offered red oak or pine stair treads) for the top and sides and pine for the base. I left the base pine because I thought it would be cool to use some leftover tile from our master bathroom project and use that instead. I figure that if we are going to put wet, snowy and dirty boots and shoes, why not make it something that a little more durable.


I got the tile idea from an art show we went to in Worthington over the summer. This guy did some awesome mosaics with mirrors and stands so I thought I could apply the mosaic idea here.


The above is where the mosaic will go.

The next step is to install filler plugs over all of the holes.

And I'm not going to paint it either. Red oak is expensive and to put paint on it would be a shame.