Do-it-yourself corner bench: The clever upcycling version using several chairs

You need: pencil, 7x (different) wooden chairs with backrest, Floor boards

In this first step, set up all chairs in the same way you will later arrange them for your corner bench. In this example, there are five chairs on the long side of the bench and two on the short side.

Now place three floor boards on the long side, which will later serve as the seat, and loosely pin them together at the tongue and groove.
Now roughly mark the gaps, or draw a line at the centre of each pair of chairs across the boards (see image).

Repeat the same steps for the short part of the corner bench.

You need: Hand-held circular saws, Regular G-clamps, pocket rule, pencil, 1x floor board

To ensure that the chairs are flush with the floor boards, you need a so-called edging frame, which is attached vertically to the floor boards from below.

Remove the tongue from another floor board and use it as the board of this edging frame. Best use a circular saw to remove the tongue after having properly clamped the board.

Next, cut this floor board in half again lengthwise to produce a narrower wooden board.

You need: Large G-clamps, Regular G-clamps, wood glue, Floor boards, Sawn floor board from step 2

In this step, join the three floor boards for the long part of the bench together and clamp them (bottom side up) to the workbench with large screw clamps.

Also glue the halved board without tongue from step 2 perpendicularly to the foremost board. Make sure that a small portion of the seating surface protrudes (see image). Also tightly clamp this board of the edging frame with several normal screw clamps before letting it dry.

You need: Jigsaws, Cordless combi drill, Jigsaw blade, bi-metal, T 101 BF, Suitable bit set, Regular G-clamps, pencil, pocket rule, Floor boards glued together in step 3, Short wooden planks, Wood screws, 3.5 x 40 mm

To ensure that the three boards hold together firmly, they are now connected with short wooden planks.

Measure and cut five wooden planks to size.

Place four of them flat on the lines drawn in step 1 for the gaps. Place the fifth one at the end of the boards, flush with the long edging frame.

Now use six wood screws for each short plank to attach them to the boards (two screws per board) (see image). You can simply glue the plank placed upright on the side. For even greater sturdiness, you can screw the planned screws into pre-drilled holes. Make sure that the drill diameter is 0.5 mm smaller than the screw thickness.

You need: Jigsaws, Jigsaw blade, bi-metal, T 101 BF, Hand-held circular saws, pocket rule, pencil, Regular G-clamps, Floor boards screwed together in step 4, Long squared timber

Now turn the part built in step 4 around so that the future seating surface is facing up and the frame and the short connecting boards are facing down.

Now draw a 45-degree angle on the side where you did not glue the short plank flush with the frame.
Saw along the line using a circular saw. A clamped squared timber can serve as an optional guide rail. It is best to saw off the bottom board of the guide frame in a straight line with a jigsaw.

Now repeat steps 3 to 5 for the short seat. A brief word of caution: The oblique angle here is also 45 degrees, but must later match the angle of the long seat – meaning it is mirror inverted.

You should also leave the edging frame about 30 mm longer. This way, the two frames of the short and long seat will overlap a bit, and there will be no gap when you join them later.

Veillez également à laisser l’encadrement plus long d’env. 30 mm. Ainsi, les deux châssis (du côté long et du côté court) pourront plus tard se chevaucher légèrement, évitant la formation d’un vide.

You need: Jigsaws, Jigsaw blade, bi-metal, T 101 BF, Cross Line Laser, Tripod, Regular G-clamps, pencil, 7x wooden chairs

The seats are done for now. In the next step, you can therefore turn to the chairs.

To ensure that the corner bench will stand straight, it is important that all chairs have the same height. To save you time-consuming precision measurements down to the last millimetre, you can simply use a cross line laser such as the Quigo Green. So align the laser line of the tool using a small tripod and determine a height for all chair legs. Mark this height on each leg.

Next, use a jigsaw to trim all the chair legs according to the lines you drew. You should clamp them firmly to your workbench beforehand.

You need: Cordless combi drill, Suitable bit set, Multi-sander, 80 to 120-grain sanding sheet, Regular G-clamps, paint brush, Assembled seats (long and short), All chairs with shortened legs, Suitable wood screws depending on the thickness of the chairs

In the last step you will join the two seats to one another and to the seven chairs.

To do this, first place all the chairs in the correct position and place the short and long seat such that the angles at the corner also fit together precisely. Hold the chairs in place using screw clamps.

Now insert an ample number of screws. Their length depends on your chairs and the respective thickness of the frame. The tips should not protrude anywhere after fully inserting them.

Afterwards, you should consider thoroughly sanding all surfaces and edges.

You can now glaze and colour your corner bench to suit your taste. 

We wish you many happy hours on the bench.

Nous vous souhaitons un bon rodage de votre banquette.