Spiral Decorative Bench

Around my area, before throwing unwanted items straight to the trash, they are often left on the street for passerby to take first. This is how my partner and I came across some bed slats, they were in really good condition, not even warped! With a growing indoor plant collection, it was inevitable we made a plant bench, it can be used for any decorative purposes.

The only reason this would not be a good sitting bench is because the legs are made of the width of a bed slat, fairly narrow, and not perfectly flat pieces, so it is not stable enough. But otherwise no reason why not!

The bench

Height: 15 bed slats thick (29cm legs, 31cm including top)

Depth: 4 bed slats wide (27cm)

Length: 140cm

The design

Bench top: made of 4 pieces of bed slat, side by side.

Legs: stacks of bed slats cut to the depth of the bench top. One leg is stacked in a spiral shape for some added detail!

Bed slats

Pliers

Handsaw

Electric drill

Drill bit 10mm

Wooden dowels

Wood glue (interior)

Using some pliers, remove the staples holding down the straps on each bed slats.

Cut pieces to size. I used a handsaw, only because I didn't have other power tools at the time. Drill a hole in the centre of all the leg pieces. The legs will be stacked using a wooden dowel to help with alignment.

Although not obviously warped, some pieces are not as flat as others. Without the need of correcting the pieces, play around with the ordering to find a good fit.

Secondly, I wanted to keep the natural look of the wood, so I played around with the pieces to find a nice look. E.g. wood grains, pattern, colouration. I paid more attention to the cross grain on the side of the bench that I intend as the front, although it would be perfect if it looks good from all sides!

Lay down the bench top pieces upside down, so the bottom sides are facing up. Take the top piece of legs and glue down. This is what will be holding the bench top together, so make sure it has a good bond. I left it weighed down and dried for 24 hours.

I did a dry fitting first to get a shape that I liked. With the bench top still facing down, put a wooden dowel into the glued on leg piece. Insert all leg pieces, and fan out. Mark with a pencil on each piece where one ends, so you can put them back together in the same way.

Now repeat, expect this time I applied wood glue on each piece.

Repeat step 4, except don't need a dry fitting this time. I used two leg pieces to make sure the stack is leveled as I went.

After the legs have dried for 24 hours, I used a handsaw to cut off the excess dowel from the bottom. Sand if necessary to make sure it is smooth, otherwise it might scratch the floor!

I didn't actually apply a finish. The bed slats already have a finish, so the only thing would be the cut ends. Got lazy and decided that was good enough!

I've had this question asked to me a few times, so thought I'd address it. The short answer is, the design probably yes, need different materials. This is because the legs are quite narrow and not perfectly flat surfaces as mentioned above, the bench is not 100% sturdy. However, with wider and planed pieces, I think this design could be used for making a table!

(I did sit on it a few times, and it didn't break! :D)

Let me know if you have other suggestions, would love to hear :)