Adding Seating to the Backyard

I hope everyone is having a nice, relaxing Memorial Day weekend.  We were supposed to have rain all weekend, but it held out yesterday until just after dinnertime and today looks like it's going to be gorgeous.  Which makes this post even better!  Because I built more outdoor seating, bitches!!

About 4-5 years ago- I purchased end of the season clearance outdoor cushions.  I got 6 seat cushions and 6 pillows.  They were super cheap- probably around $6-7 each so more than 50% off whatever the original price was.  They went into my garage.... where they've collected saw dust until yesterday.
I had found plans on Ana White's website for an outdoor sectional (again 4-5 years ago) and have had them printed out and filed in my "to-do pile" in the laundry room.  It consisted of individual pieces put together to make a sectional so I could make any arrangement of them since they weren't attached to each other.  If I wanted 2 on one side and 4 on the other, I could do that.  Or I could keep it 3 on each side.  Or I could just have 6 individual chairs.

I started talking about the sectional a couple weekends ago and finally planned on picking up the wood.  I jumped back onto Ana's website to see if there were any new outdoor plans or if I should just stick with what I already had.  Seeing as though the cushions fit this particular sectional.  She did have something else- a couch sectional that she made.  And I liked this one so much better.  The only drawback was that they'd be more permanent in how the layout would be set up.  Either an L-shape or across from each other as two separate couches.  BUT- most importantly, each couch fit three 24x24 cushions perfectly!  SOLD! 

So off to Lowe's I went to pick up the pressure treated wood.  I ended up with 28- 2x4x8 boards.  They didn't have 10 ft boards (or I can't fit 10 ft boards in my SUV), which is what the plans called for and I ended up with a LOT of scrap- 18 boards left 2ft per board unusable.  I will definitely use it for something else down the road, but if you are going to build just the couches, get the 10ft boards.  You'll probably need a lot less than what I ended up having to purchase.  I used deck screws since the couches will remain outside all spring/summer/fall long.... and let's be honest, probably all winter long as well cuz I'm lazy like that.  I counter sunk the screws so I'll do the same thing that I did with the Adirondack chairs and plug them with wood plugs so you don't see the screws.   But other than a couple modifications to Ana's plans, it was pretty straight forward.  You really just need a miter saw and drill.  I used three drills cuz I'm fancy like that.  But seriously though, if you have 3 drills, it's super convenient.  WI had one with the drill bit, one with the counter sink bit, and one with a Phillips bit.

I cut the wood for both couches at the same time, leaving me with two piles.

Then I started on the first one.  I didn't build them like I did the chairs last summer, step by step for all 6 chairs so that I completed them all at the same time.  This go around, I built one couch and then did the other.  Probably a good thing too, since they are pretty big and it would have been a hassle trying to walk around them in the garage.  

I followed the steps for all of the below pictures and the steps were pretty easy and self-explanatory.  

 {create the base of the couch}

 {finished base}

 {beginning of one arm}

 {both arms}

 {side piece added to arms to attach the base}

{the outside of the arms}

After attaching the arms to the base, I decided I only needed 5 of the 6 required boards on the base and I'd use the remaining board to attach to the back, because for some reason, the plans only called for one piece on the back.  I attached the 6th board to the 5th board on the base at a ninety degree angle that you can see on the left side of the couch below.   

Then I scratched my head on the last piece of the back.  It would only be attached with 2 screws to the arms.  If you have 3 people sitting on the couch and leaning back, 2 screws holding the back piece on made me quite nervous.  Not because my friends are fatties, but because we like to drink and I can only imagine someone throwing themselves back onto the couch and taking the board off with them.  

Because my garage is comparable to a lumber yard, I have extra pressure treated 1x4x8's laying around.  What?  You don't?  Rookies.  So I attached one of those to the back of the arms, with 5 screws each side and then attached the last original board to that, screwing 5 times across the back to attach the boards together.  Much sturdier than 2 screws just on the arms.   

You can really see the additional board in the above picture.  Also you can see all the screws counter sunk.  Again, I will put wood plugs in there and sand them down to you don't even notice them. 

So this is one finished couch.  I didn't check when I first started the project to see how long it would take us.  But I did on the second couch.  Mind you, this doesn't count the time it took me to cut the wood so add on maybe a half hour, if that.  But the second couch took me 1 hour and 20 minutes.  Can't beat that!  While I was building the second couch, it started pouring out, which is why they look like they are two different colors.  

{John Doe!!}

If I wanted to, I could put these in an L shape, I'd just need to move the wood pile over a bit, so I'll see how I like them like this for a bit and decide then if I want to keep them as is or move them.  Cuz that'll be the ONLY time I move them again.  These fuckers are HEAVY!  Obviously, once they dry out, they'll be a bit lighter.  But OH MY WORD- carrying them from the garage to the back yard was a muthafuckah.  

All in all, the boards were $4.80 each x 28 = $134.40 and the deck screws were $6.71 per pack x 2 = $13.42.  So a total of $147.82 plus the $70 in cushions means that you can build yourself two outdoor couches for around $200.  Try purchasing solid wood outdoor seating for that in any store.  You'll be lucky if you can find ONE for under $400.  

For those interested in Ana White's plans that I used, search her site for Outdoor Sofa.  

Now, I am going to relax and grill!  Enjoy your day!!!