The Entry Bench Made From Two Old Drawers

Hallways are where a house gets untidy fastest, because they are where everybody puts things down. The fix is a place to sit and a place to hide boots, in the same object, occupying the same floor area.

Old drawers are ideal raw material: they are already square boxes with a decent front face, and skips and second-hand shops are full of them.

Sourcing

Look for solid timber drawers from mid-century units, ideally with dovetailed corners. Avoid anything with a chipboard base unless you plan to replace it. The two drawers do not need to match — painting the carcasses the same colour resolves any difference instantly.

Target size: about 900 mm total length, 350 to 400 mm deep, 200 mm tall.

The build

Join the two boxes. Stand them side by side, back to back or end to end depending on your proportions. Glue and screw a plywood spine between them, and add a strip of 18 mm ply across the underside of both to tie them into a single rigid unit.

Reinforce the bases. A drawer base was designed to hold socks, not a person plus five pairs of boots. Add 9 mm ply over the existing base, glued and pinned, and a batten across the middle underneath.

Add legs. Tapered hairpin or turned wooden legs both work; bolt them through into hardwood blocks glued into the corners, never into a thin base panel alone. 200 mm legs put the seat at a comfortable 380 to 400 mm.

Make the lid. 18 mm ply cut with a 15 mm overhang all round. Foam of 40 mm thickness, sprayed to the ply, then fabric wrapped and stapled underneath — pull opposite sides alternately and do the corners last. Fix with two butt hinges at the back, or leave loose if you want a simpler life.

Finish the carcasses. Sand, prime, and paint in a satin. Leave the original drawer handles on the front if they have any character; they read as deliberate.

Two small details that matter

• Soft-close or a lid stay. A hinged lid landing on small fingers is the one hazard in this build.
• Ventilation. Boots in a sealed box get unpleasant. Drill a row of 20 mm holes in the back, low down where nobody sees them.

Cost

If the drawers are free, this is a legs-and-foam project — the most expensive item is usually the fabric. It compares well against the flat-pack version, and it will still be here in fifteen years.