floatingbarnwoodbench thumb1

Hi there! I’m Shayna from The Wood Grain Cottage and I’m back to share another project with you! We’re in the process of giving our small mudroom a makeover, so today I’m sharing our barn beam floating bench made from an old reclaimed piece of wood.

floating-barnwood-bench

I like barn beams. A lot. So when my husband told me about a local antique wood dealer, I immediately made the trek to look around. This place was amazing… and full of farm life history. There were stacks upon stacks of wood beams that came directly from old barns in the mid west. I was in awe. Knowing that I wanted to make one of those barn beams into a floating bench, I looked for one that was just the right thickness with the right amount of character. What I found didn’t disappoint! Once I got it home, my husband began planning on how we were going to make it appear “floating”. Because the beam is really heavy, Anthony decided to weld a piece of 1/4″ steel to make the platform. He’s a welder by trade, but the platform could easily be made with wood as well. Here’s what he made:

weathered wood bench

Because we have an outlet and a central vacuum receptacle beneath the bench, he notched around them…

flatoing weathered wood bench

Then, we held it up to the wall and made sure it was level…

old barn beam bench

And I marked all the platform holes with a pencil. With the holes marked we took it down and pre drilled the marks where our wall studs were located.

old barnwood bench

On the other holes we used plastic anchors for extra support…

old brandwood floating bench

Then we anchored it to the wall with several screws…

old wood floating bench
wood bench

With the platform in place, we started on the barn beam…

floating wood bench

We marked and measured it to fit our wall, which is 3 foot long, then Anthony used his saw to cut it…

barnwood bench

Because our saw wasn’t as large as the piece of wood, we flipped the wood over and finished cutting it…

reclaimed barnwood bench

The barn board was also a bit uneven on the back side, so in order to make it sit flush against the wall, we trimmed the back to make it straight…

reclaimed floating barn beam bench
Barn Beam Floating Bench by The Wood Grain Cottage

And since the blade didn’t cut all the way to the top of the board, Anthony finished cutting it with his saw. We just flipped the board over, marked a straight line and he started cutting…

Barn Beam Floating Bench by The Wood Grain Cottage

We ended up with a very nice cut:

Barn Beam Floating Bench by The Wood Grain Cottage

From there we lightly sanded the top and side of the bench to make them smooth for sitting…

Barn Beam Floating Bench by The Wood Grain Cottage

Once the board was how we wanted it, we began attaching it to the metal platform from the bottom…

Barn Beam Floating Bench by The Wood Grain Cottage

We used wood shims to make sure it was level, then screwed it in place…

Barn Beam Floating Bench by The Wood Grain Cottage

With the beam in place, I used natural hemp oil to restore the wood…

Barn Beam Floating Bench by The Wood Grain Cottage
Barn Beam Floating Bench by The Wood Grain Cottage

I used a brush and gave the entire top and sides a nice even coat. The wood quickly absorbed the oil and I gave it another light coat. I’m absolutely thrilled with how well the hemp oil worked. Because I wanted to keep the wood as original as possible, I didn’t want to stain it and lose all the cracks and bug trails that had been added over the years. I am 100% completely in love with the way it’s turned out…. Because our mudroom is so small, I really wanted to make a custom bench rather than buy one. I wanted to have ample storage space underneath the bench for boots, hats, scarves, etc. And because we have the central vac outlet on the wall, we couldn’t have any type of furniture that would block it.

Barn Beam Floating Bench by The Wood Grain Cottage

Plus, I really wanted the bench to look like it was floating…

Barn Beam Floating Bench by The Wood Grain Cottage

And even though you can see a little bit of the metal platform, I couldn’t be happier. It ties in nicely with the wood, the white and everything else in our home. It’s also only 12″ deep, which is great because it doesn’t get in our walk path.

Barn Beam Floating Bench by The Wood Grain Cottage

And don’t even get me started on those bug trails and natural cracks and crevices…

Barn Beam Floating Bench by The Wood Grain Cottage

This beam has history and I didn’t want to lose any of it during the process…

Barn Beam Floating Bench by The Wood Grain Cottage

Now, we just need to add a bit of our history in there too…

Barn Beam Floating Bench by The Wood Grain Cottage

Until next time… You can find me on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter! And be sure to stop by The Wood Grain Cottage to say hi!

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