Madeline Scalzi was preparing to host a holiday dinner party for friends at her Astoria, Queens, apartment when she had an idea. The content creator behind the Instagram account “Tulips for the Table” will use her six days leading up to the gathering to build a spacious bench in a corner of her home that she had previously envisioned as her dining space. I decided to do so.
“Of course,” Scalzi said, the area has a radiator and is home to a work-from-home desk, “accumulating with dust and papers,” and has remained unused since the coronavirus outbreak. He pointed out that it was hardly used. “It's sunny all year round and it's adjacent to the kitchen area.” For all these reasons, this place has been transformed from two separate units into one large piece: an L-shaped storage bench and a radiator cover. It seemed like the perfect space to create a visible L-shaped dining banquette. The only problem? Time was not on her side.
“Normally for a project like this, we allot at least two weeks to complete, so we knew it would be done soon,” Scalzi said. “It really fell on the wire!”
To begin the bench building process, Scalzi scoured the internet for inspiration before deciding on the final look. The piece itself is made of an L-shaped Shaker-style wooden frame box, which Scalzi combined with his cover for a rectangular fluted wooden radiator to create one continuous piece. “I like the fluted detail on the radiator cover because it's a little more modern than what I usually prefer, so it looks more attractive than a standard store-bought cover,” she says. Masu.
Before starting the building process, Scalzi used Pinterest, YouTube, and Google to help her plan. “This part required us to measure the space multiple times to ensure the part fit as expected,” she says. “I made a plan. I measured again. Then I used painter's tape to tape a roughly sized bench to the wall and floor.” Scalzi also said the height of the bench was about the same as hers. I confirmed it was between 18 inches and 23 inches. This is a common height for dining chairs.
After creating the sketches, Scalzi calculated the amount of wood needed for the seat and frame. She then researched what cuts she would need to make, which she says was the most difficult part of the project. After making these cuts, the next step was to build the frame for both the bench and the radiator cover using the two-by-four and her L and T brackets for support. After assembling the frame, Scalzi cut the face, side, and top panels to size and attached them with a nail gun. For the sides of both units and the top of the radiator cover, I used 5mm thick sanded plywood, and for the top of the bench I used 1/4 inch sanded maple plywood. “We also used a jigsaw and multi-tool to cut holes in the bench for the wall outlets,” Scalzi explains.
Once the boxy shells of the bench and radiator cover were complete, Scalzi cut and sanded the pine lattice molding to fit the face of the bench, smoothed the edges, and secured it with wood glue and brad nails. I then cut out a section of the molding and added it to the seam between the radiator cover and bench to camouflage it and make the two separate pieces look like one (although the radiator cover is taller) , there are slight differences between the two parts)' height). I then filled the exposed nail holes with stainable wood filler and sanded the entire thing with a 220-grit sanding block.
“We also added a wood veneer edge band to the bench lid to give it a more finished look and used piano hinges to connect the lid to the top of the bench,” she shares . This will allow you to use the inner compartment of the bench part of the chaise lounge for storage.
Once the bench itself was completed, Scalzi cut and stained 36 1-by-2-inch pieces of wood and attached them to the front of the radiator for ventilation and proper airflow. She then used a dark brown pecan-colored Minwax water-based stain on the rest of the bench and the radiator cover. The final step in the process is to touch up any dirt, lightly sand the whole thing with a 400-grit sanding block, and seal the whole thing with Minwax polyurethane.
In total, Scalzi estimates the bench cost about $1,000 to build, which also includes the cost of purchasing several tools, including a nail gun. “It was her first time doing a woodworking project of this size, so she bought too much of the wood,” she says. “We now have a lot of scraps that we can use for future projects.”
One of the biggest challenges Scalzi faced was the fact that the floors in his pre-war apartment weren't perfectly level. “The bench had to be custom assembled on site so that the back, bottom and sides were flush with the floor and walls,” she explains. That being said, she believes that with her considerable experience as a DIY enthusiast, she should be able to tackle similar projects.
Scalzi, who lives in a small space, also appreciates the multifunctionality of the finished bench. “This bench has given me a lot of hidden storage space that I didn't have before. I can now use it to hide non-perishable food, kitchen utensils, and hobby-related items like tennis rackets,” she says. say. And that tulip-shaped dining table she pulled up onto a bench? Well, this is perfect for your dinner party table or work-from-home desk.