Furniture Building: Front Entrance Bench and Shoe Cubby- The Final Touches, Self-Stick Tiles.

I applied the last coat of paint to front entrance bench on Saturday. I was able to finally bring it inside yesterday.

The next step was to apply the tile to the tops of the shelves.

We decided to use a self-stick laminate tile on the shelves since the working space was pretty tight. Because the shelves are made of birch plywood, I used a primer that is supposed to enhance to bond between the tile and wood. 

I applied a liberal layer of primer to each shelf. Let it dry for 2hrs and we were ready for the tile.

Simply peel off the backing

Place the tiles down.

Roll over the tiles with something heavy. Pizza sauce jars work great in tight spaces.

Unfortunately the tiles are large, meaning I had to do a lot of cutting to fill the spaces around the whole tiles. I found that by cutting the face of the tile, the lines were better looking. The rough edge usually was the back which can be scraped away with the edge of the utility knife. 

In order to trim the tiles, I started by marking the face of the tile with a pencil. Set my straight edge to the line.

And have at it with a utility knife. They cut with a utility knife just fine. Not easy, but they will cut after multiple passes.

The cuts come out a little rough, but it gets covered with grout anyways, so no big deal.

Shelves are all covered.

Time to apply the grout. I used a pre-mix grout which worked really well!

Apply a heavy layer to all of the spaces between the tiles.

Scrap away the excess grout.

Immediately clean the area with a large damp sponge. Apparently grout is a pain the remove once dried, so if it gets onto the tops of the tile it can become a big pain once dried.

This is the cubby now. All finished.

I almost don't want to put shoes in it!

http://img0.liveinternet.ru/images/attach/c/2//3822/3822296_ideya_dlya_prihozhey.pdf

The link above is the plans I loosely followed. I added a shelf to each side and added tiles. Some of the dimensions called for in the plans are way off, but it's an easy fix.

Furniture Building: Front Entrance Bench and Shoe Cubby- Painting/Priming

I have been patiently waiting for a warm day to paint our 'Mudroom' style bench/cubby. Today was the day. We had a really nice warm and sunny day here in Spokane, so I decided to paint outside.

This is the bench after a coat of primer applied the week before in the shed on a decently warm day.

First coat of paint. It is much easier to paint outside than it is to paint in the shed. I was glad for the opportunity!

The back.

The photo above shows the bench with the top piece. It is lifted up because I had extra time and was able to paint the seat before it got too cold. I was able to do both coats of green paint as well. I just need to paint the front trim with two coats, apply one more coat to the bench top, and secure the top to the base. In the middle cubby, 2 pieces of laminate tile are shown; we are going to use these to cover the surfaces that come in contact with the shoes. I haven't ever done tile before so it will be interesting.

I put the bench away for the night in our crammed shed. I wish I had a woodshop, but I am happy to have a saw and be able to work outside. We are nearly done!

Thanks for reading! 

Furniture Building: Front Entrance Bench and Shoe Cubby

I recently got a table saw from my wonderful wife! I decided to build a shoe cubby first, since our front door is always cluttered with a variety of shoes and boots. I am making it out of birch plywood with pine trim on the face. 

Here I have the base assembly all put together. I have the top drying behind(not shown), after gluing the boards together. Everything has been sanded down and the nail holes are all filled. Just need a warmish day to apply the primer and start painting. 

I haven't ever done woodworking like this before. I am learning a ton and can't wait to start my next project.