Nice project, great writeup. I like that you wrote about your reasons for doing it that way, and the stuff you payed extra attention to. It will help someone who's thinking about doing something similar.

Thanks appreciate it! Ton of work but I enjoyed this project!

This is great, but I do want to point out that one of the pictures clearly shows a license plate. Not sure if you meant to do that, just didn't want you doxxing yourself by accident.

Very cool!

I have not had good luck with using Home Depot's cutting service, but it's great for getting pieces small enough for transport

Yeah u can get a pretty green guy but sometimes I still have to rip it down a little better. Easier than a 4x8 sheet for sure!

I got so sick of waiting around for someone to cut up a sheet for me, or getting everything and then being told the saw is broken and having to drive 30 minutes to another Home Depot etc. That I got a battery skill saw so I can just do it myself in the parking lot.

Yeah that is likely for sure lok

Home Depot provides "precise cuts!" Hilarious!

16 inches is 16 inches right? I know its not likely all the time but for this project it was on the money and saved me the pain of wrestling a 4x8 sheet on my small table saw :)

Thanks. I know its not good practice to show that but its a restricted plate do to my profession so no worries :)

The panel saw is pretty close, I always get it cut like 1/4 inch too big and cut it closer on my own.

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>This not only ensures precise cuts

spit my coffee on this one. Those cuts are anything but precise. parallel? maybe. within an inch of what you requested?

sure.

Like I told another person for this project they did a good job. I asked for 16" and i got 16". This is a bench and it was good enough. And if a person didn't have a table saw it would be good enough over a hand saw. One time the guy asked me if I wanted to adjust saw before cutting - I was like sure and it was perfect too!

This timing couldn't be better. My wife started a built-in storage bench literally last night so I sent this to her and she's very excited to go through it.

That's good to hear hopefully she gets a few tips. I have a video of the build in my bio with additional info. Man I wish my wife would at least help :(

I don't think anyone's worried about the panel saw not cutting right...

Lol. Fair point.

As someone who worked at HD, it entirely depends on the mentality of the person that does the cuts for you. If you get the older guy that loves helping people then you'll probably be good. If you get the department head that has to help you himself because everyone else called out sick? You better ask for an inch bigger than your actual final dimensions.

Mid morning on a weekday is the best time to get the former. That's when the retirees work and it's after the early contractor rush.

Great, but I stopped at the pic of the Home Depot guy cutting wood. Neither HD not Lowe’s saw has been working in my area for nigh years now.

Totally agree with you on that! Yep for sure get the old guy on the weekdays! Not the punk on the weekend :)

That sucks!

Wonderful project with a great write up, photos and documentations! Really appreciate your explanations.

As a guy in my mid 30s who is about to have a place I can work on for the very first time in my life, I'm super excited by projects like these. Also thank you for listing out the tools and materials you used! I'm trying to think of what tools I should focus on purchasing first. I have absolutely nothing aside from a single, corded power drill. Any tips for a true beginner on where to start?

That's great and thanks! I have been flagged enough to be extremely detailed on here :)

Well if you like this kind of stuff checkout my bio and YouTube channel. I have all kinds of projects, tips and tricks (90 videos). I have a YouTube short on my must have tools! Subscribe so you don't miss anything :)

I started diy home improvements when I was 28 and now I'm 49 so 20 years of experience and I'm not afraid to do anything. First project was a tile floor on my starter home :) since then I have built my own home and rebuilt a apartment building along with tons of other stuff. You can save so much money diy!

My tip is buy only battery tools and a decent name brand too. I have had the same tools for years and zero issues. One brand so you can use the same batteries. I have like 10 dewalt tools and only 5 good batteries which is perfect! Good luck you can do it!

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> 16 inches is 16 inches right?

16” might be anywhere from 15” to 17” for some of the people working there.

Yeah maybe but I give this guy credit they were 16 :)

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My wife is the handyman in our home, far and above (I'm just the handsy man 😉🤔). I'm really not good at hands-on things. I have too many OCD's and it just takes me a really long time for me to get going. I have to fight my own mind and usually over think things and make mistakes.

Her current project (she usually has one or two) is a built in shelving/cabinet/electrical fireplace for our tv area. Pic. Framed is the beginning of the bench. She doesn't have a history of wood working or anything, so she just figures things out as she goes, following online guides or DIY things like yours.

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Wow she has skills! Hey that's ok it's a team thing ;) I did the same, learned on line. Now I know a bunch but still find myself checking on here and YouTube. It's learning it never ends! Check me out on YouTube got some pretty neat stuff on there!

Dude, just watched a couple videos. LOVE your new office :) A+ content! You make this stuff look so accessible and easy. I'm still setting my expectation that most projects will be PITAs, so I won't get discouraged when it comes to that. But damn if this isn't encouraging and exciting!

You have a happy new subscriber for sure. I'm amazed you don't have more subscribers. Keep at it. I'm sure your channel will grow considerably.

Do you have a link? I'll go sub

It's in my bio sorry they don't like more than one link on a post :)

Thanks! I have only been at for 9 months. Started with bbq and diy. My subs at the time wanted more diy so I lost a couple hundred subs going diy only. I like to bbq but it's seems to be repetitive after awhile. DIY is exciting and it's normally something new! Glad you like the channel it's starting to pick up a little now :)

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I think it looks great. I’m also soooo jealous of your window in your closet. :)

Thanks we love the window too. So much I'm installing the exact size of window in the bathroom as I type this!

Dude this is some next-level genius right here.

cool. was having the hinges on top a design choice? would seem to be cleaner to hide the hinges.

Yes for sure. Kinda got the craftsman farmhouse theme throughout. Did a home tour and thought it looked great. Could have easily hidden the flanges with the same hinge but we choose to show the hardware.

The stand for those table saws goes on sale a few times a year. Snag one when it’s around $75 and save your back and possibly some digits.

Sadly I have a stand :( too lazy to get it out

The flat carts Home Depot have work great for it, I either bring if I have one or buy the one inch pink panther foam sheets that are 4x8 set the wood ontop and so you have a spoilboard surface and happy cutting. You just have to figure out where the flat spot in the parking lot is haha.

Headed over and watched a few of your videos. Great stuff. Subbed and hit the bell. Love your use of playlists.

I hear ya! I started a youtube channel as well about 3 and a half months ago, also for building...in a video game called Valheim :D (Think Minecraft except much prettier.) I do a combination of build showcases and tutorial videos. I just hit 1K subs last week after my last 2 videos of 2022 somehow managed to amass around 70K views each.

It's been a very interesting experience learning basic video editing, sound/music editing, how to make appealing thumbnails, and studying the youtube algorithm to maximize exposure. (Highly recommend the education channel Veritasium's 2 breakdowns of the youtube algorithm if you haven't watched them already: Video 1 + video 2)

Because of my brief experiences with making videos, I definitely have an increased appreciation for the work other content creators like yourself do. Your videos are really well-edited! I appreciate the time and planning it takes to make the videos in addition to your builds themselves.

Anyway, that game has unlocked a creative side of me I didn't know existed, but now it has me itching to build IRL as well! I'll definitely give many of your videos a watch when the time comes to get my hands dirty :)

Thanks I appreciate that!

> Home Depot offers a valuable service to its customers by providing free cutting of lumber prior to purchase. This not only ensures precise cuts but also allows

I haven’t found their panel saw operators (tool used to rip the plywood down) to be precise in any fashion.

If you’re doing furniture or cabinet grade I would highly recommend checking yourself before they cut it. I will agree it’s a handy service.

Looks really nice, I love built-ins, you did well!

Wow that's great! I will check out everything I don't watch much tv but I love YouTube! I haven't had anything go viral but someday it might! I diy all the time must of my life I just record it now :) Thx for the tips!

Gonna get sappy for a min. I've spent an hour and plan on spending a lot more time watching your videos and getting to know you, so I like to have you know a bit about me too because it's less weird that way.

I'm a computer guy by trade, but I love, love real estate. We flipped homes for a few years starting in 2017 till the market became too expensive and saturated with investors to make good margins or find good deals. We built (through a developer) our first home in 2019 when we had our first kid and were waiting for our second to arrive. We have three now, two sons 3 and 4, and a 10 month old girl. We finished our basement ourselves as an apartment that covers our mortgage. Which is great because I work for a super stable company that stays stable by not giving raises, so I'm on the same income I've been on since 2017, before kids.

I can do hands-on stuff, and I really actually love it, even though I wasn't raised that way. But I have a lot of challenges that make it a little harder. I mentioned my mind as one. On top of that, I've had six surgeries in the last two years, five of which in 2022, all but two on my wrists and hands. I'm still in recovery for the last two, knee scopes for arthritis. So I can't really get around very well at the moment. I did sit on the floor and help a bit last night with the bench and really enjoyed it, then had to spend an hour icing my knees.

DIY stuff is something I love if I can find the time, get over my mind and when my body permits. I'm 36 and have the health problems of someone twice my age. I often ask God why He set me up this way, but I keep my chin up and do my best with what I have. I think there's a reason I was blessed with a wife who is hands-on and can do all the things I struggle to do. She's basically been a single parent the last year or so because seven months of 13 I've been recovering from some surgery that has made it impossible to do a lot. So like you said it's a team effort, I do what I can as often as I can. The biggest trap I have to work hard to stay away from is the victim mentality. As soon as I start thinking wo is me I know I have to shut up and find something to do that is for my wife or kids to get out of my own head and stop that negative feedback loop in its tracks.

I don't know what the ultimate secret is, but I've seen a few DIY build channels that have nearly 1M subscribers and your stuff is just as good as theirs. So definitely keep at it!

One thing I did for my own channel is I looked at the most popular videos by some of my other favorite builders in the game. I looked at their titles, thumbnails, tags (apparently this is very important,) and the content itself. I used that info to inform my own approach to my videos. I also reached out to those creators directly, from a place of respect and admiration, and got opportunities to chat with them about their processes (kind of like we're doing right now), which was super helpful :)

Anyway, good luck! Looking forward to seeing you continue to do your thing!

I built some benches very similar to this. I highly recommend putting some toy box hinges on the inside to go with your piano hinge to avoid pinched fingers

Thanks!

More great tips and thanks again for the comments!

The bench looks great. I would add more structure to it, but I always try to make sure 600 pound gorillas could jump on it

Wow I don't know what to say. I'm fairly healthy but have experienced some things that you have gone through! I push myself hard it's to easy to just say I will do it later. Later us know in my book you never know when you can never do something again! Sounds like you have a plan going forward and I can only wish you the best! I appreciate you checking out my channel and hope you guys keep pushing forward sounds like you got your hands full with just the kids!!!!

Thanks! All depends on the employee :(

I hear you! I'm 230 and it's really firm :)

I'll be honest, and I know styles change all the time, but I will never not like the painted base with a stained top piece of furniture. Looks great!

I'm right with you. I love that look too. Thank you

Half the time, you wait around until the guy who does come seems pissed that he has to cut things.

That looks nice. Great work.

I am planning to do the same but with the floor having carpet on it. What would you recommend doing differently versus your video?

I was thinking the same. I would have hidden the hinge.

Also all the comments about HD and their imprecise cutting. I get them to cut for me all the time but I stand by them and double check. They never mind and I’m happy.

They should be, ours (not HD but a competitor) was off by a 1/8-1/4” near the bottom. I think the frame had been bumped so it was no longer square. No matter how many people I told this to I still had people get mad at me when it wasn’t perfect. We were also told that it wasn’t for projects it was to help people fit stuff into their vehicle, but if people complain enough rules get ignored, which is what happened at our store.

“Wait, I. Actually have to work and do stuff for money?….”

I would cut the carpet at the base of the bench. Use the trim board face to make that look nice. Than I would add a floor in the bench. I had enough wood out of a 8x4 sheet to make a floor but didn't need to do that since I was already on a wood floor.

Thanks!

Yep this is how it is at my store. Also blades never get changed often enough so they start to grip the wood and throw it, causing the cut to go at an angle

Nicely done. Only thing I would have done different would have been to hide most of the piano hinge in the joint.

I always help out the tech when he's ripping something down for me to cut more precisely at home by punching in the code when the saw lock times out. They don't change the blades often, and usually push the blade down making the cut pretty rough.

One thing I'd say about getting home Depot to cut your wood is it is very hit or miss. I bought a sheet of MDF for some garage shelving. I asked them to cut it in half to make two long skinnier pieces. I didn't pay close enough attention apparently, because they were about 2 inches off center. This meant one shelf was 4 inches deeper than the other. Luckily it didn't matter, and I didn't care, but it seems like many employees don't care either.

Apparently when I asked for 2 feet at the panel saw it's anywhere between 20 inches and 28...

What color of stain is that on top?

We purposely showed the hinge. The style in craftsman farmhouse. My cut was good couldn't have done it better myself. At least this time!

Have a similar space....

If into comics and graphic novels....

Highly suggest mounting a 30 inch tv monitor vertically (1080p or 4k). Add a small used mini pc or even a raspberry pi and you have a great easy reading nook.

Thumb ball mouse to control...works great and non intrusive.

Love this!

Thanks, I am a relative N00B at home improvement and have no idea on how to remove the carpet safely. Any source that you can point to that you'd recommend taking a look at?

I haven't messed with carpet ever but I'm sure there is someone YouTube that tell you how to do it. Likely not that hard I'm just no expert. Sorry :(

Thanks dude!

Looks great! Next time you should rip a bit off the edge of the primed boards so the glue will actually bond. It's not doing much of anything on that joint so good thing you also have pocket screws.

Most of the ends are cut so there is no primer on the ends. It's a strong joint I would never just use glue. The glue is secondary to the screws for sure!

Nice work!

No worries, thanks for the reply. And awesome bench you made BTW!

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Pretty much! Looking forward to seeing all your videos. Thanks again!

Thanks good luck!

Thanks

One time I was silly enough to mention the words “blade kerf” the blank expression I got made me feel real silly. I go to the lumber yard when I can, probably a good $10-15 more expensive a panel but the quality is way better, they can actually cut it and they help me load it in the car too. But they’re closed by noon on saturdays.

Get yourself the Festool track saw and the 108" track, you'll never look back.

Can't afford that stuff. Saw kreg had a new saw guide for ripping plywood. Gets good reviews and is cheap

Yeah... Mine was cheap MDF for some wall mounted garage shelves, so it didn't really matter. But I second the lumber yard for a lot of stuff.

sure I didn't mean the cuts in your product, just in general people should not count on those. I've probably had 30 pieces chopped down over the course of the last decade, and not once have they been right.

I got you. I know they aren't perfect but it's likely that people on here don't have table saws and trucks. It's an option but has to be supervised. If they mess it up you can always have them redo it on their dime!

You mean they can't sit on their butt all day with ear bud's in watching TikTok while getting paid? I won't even go into commonsense or basic troubleshooting skills...

Nice write-up and thanks for sharing! Looks awesome.

He just told you it's not a team thing, though... Their her projects. She's the handy woman.

All Home Depot’s I’ve seen have signage and related policy that says “no project cuts”. They are strictly cuts to make it easy to fit in your car.

Thx

Oh sorry, you're right - it is very expensive. I made an assumption based on some of the background in your photos that you could. The Kreg looks like a good in-between. I know whenever I tried to use the circular saw and just a straight edge my cut would always wander. The Kreg looks like it will at least keep the saw close to the track.

Yeah worth a try. I need a table saw table but nowhere to store it :(

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