Phone buzzes…..
“Hey….i’ve managed to get hold of a load of old chuch pew bit’s….do you think you could make me something
interesting?”
“Yeah, what kind of thing you thinking of?”
“It needs to seat at least six people and have extra space for storage….?”
“I’m sure I can come up with something… Leave it with me.”
This actually happened.
Something along those lines anyway.
As you can guess I was quite excited when the van arrived….
And a man unloaded ten beautiful hand crafted pieces of church pews. All back pieces I might add, buy that wasn’t going to dull my mood. Tiring work dragging them up the garden and trying to fit them in the dry wood store too, but still had a smile on my face.
Day one. Ideas time…
I decided that it would be a shame to spoil the lovely workmanship of the pews, so the theme should be within keeping of their original use. But with it needing to sit up to six people, this was going to be a challenge and a large one at that.
We mulled around with a few ideas and came up with a diner booth idea. That way we could have storage under the seating, like ottoman style chests built in to the design.
How big would it need to be…?
Well, the seat had to fit around an existing farmhouse style dinning table. This actually gave us an easy start, so out came the masking tape and a rough plan started to physically appear on the kitchen floor. That’s right….we did a floor plan with the masking tape. This enabled us to work out the size and where the seat would eventually live. Around two meters square… that too big? Nah! Will just have to make it in sections and assemble it a bit at a time.
Day two. Measure up twice, cut once….
After drafting a rough three dimensional sketch with the correct measurements. It was finally time to be creative with the power tools….
As all the pieces of wood were the back rests from the pews, I thought if I was to stick two end to end, length ways. Then that should be about the perfect height for a comfortable seating position….Then use two more pieces to create the actual seat and Base for the whole unit. This would have to be done three times to make three separate units, which can be slotted together to form the whole thing.
I achieved this using flat metal brackets to sure up the a joined pieces temporarily. Before I knew it I had the three main pieces built and joined. If I could get them to stand up under their own weight then that’s most of the big work done.
Day three. Making it safe to sit on….
Now for the difficult part. I now needed to build the internal structure, the frame that the seats would attach to….and that would hold the whole thing safely together. Normally it would be done the other way round, you would build the outside around the inside, but the simple fact of the matter was I couldn’t cut the pews to the desired sizes without ruining their beauty.
Anyway, after various measuring and cutting of two by two lengths, I managed to create two identical ottoman frames for the pew seats to attach to. Already safe to sit on I might add.
Day four. Internal floors and decoration….
Now the internal frame work was finished, I needed to make the storage usable by adding a base frame and flooring into all the ottoman style storage. Although flooring into all the ottoman style storage. Although this would shrink the storage size ever so slightly, it would keep items dry and off the ground. It looks a whole lot better too.
Day five. Final cuts and hinges…..
Next , it was time to tidy up all the sharp edges and corners. Making sure all the angled joints all flowed into each other. Matching the older wood into the new. Not an easy task trying to make a right angle turn into a curved edge, but just about managed with a lot of planing and sanding.
Next it was time to attach the hinges. Reclaimed from a pair of old Victorian internal doors, their rusty age matched the church pew colouring perfectly. Looking almost finished now, I knew that the hard work had only just begun.
Day six & seven & eight. Staining, filling and colour matching….
All the construction now complete, the most difficult part had finally arrived.
Time to wood fill the dangerous splintering holes and colour match all the various wood shades. Trying colour match all the various wood shades. Trying to make them look good as new without ruining the beautiful aged look of the original wood.
Using wood filler putty and a bloody good sanding down, i managed make the seating nice and smooth. Leaving some of the less dangerous cracks and holes to add charactor to the beautiful final finish.
Next using enough wood stain to fill a kitchen sink, I gently layered up the colouring of the new wood to match the old. This took many hours, if not days. Patiently waiting for one layer to dry to add the next, eventually creating an even colouring to the whole piece. I’m not a very patient man, just so you know.
Day nine and ten. Varnishing and on the home straight….
On probably one of the wetest weeks of the year so far… it was time to add a protective layer to the so far….it was time to add a protective layer to the wood… and as you may know, water and varnish do not mix.
Eventually waiting for that elusive dry spell, I finally managed to apply the first layer of matt varnish. Twenty-four hours later and the third layer had been applied and all that was left to do was to add the rubber feet. Feet attached, time to ring the client.
“Hello, I’m pleased to tell you your bespoke church pew booth seating with ottoman style storage is finally finished…when would you like it installing….?”
“Excellent, I will be in touch with a plan of action asap! Oh and thank you ever so much! ”
“Not a problem, it has been a very enjoyable project. Speak to you soon.”
The End.
