First DIY of The Year: Our Master Bedroom Window Seat, Part 1

Well, this is embarrassing.

Forgive me; I've been a neglectful blogger. It's been three weeks since my last post. THREE WEEKS!

I have an entire list of excuses, not the least of which is that we literally just got around to taking down our Christmas trees, and the house is still in shambles.

It looks like the Toys-R-Us big book exploded in our living room, and because we live outside city limits and have to drive our recycling into town (ain't nobody got time for that!), there are one month and two holiday's worth of wine bottles threatening to overtake our garage/kitchen/dining room (we had company, no judging).

Regardless, it's shameful how long it's been since my last post.

So, without further ado, I bring you my first post of the new year.

I know what you're thinking, but stay with me. See this boring, sad little reading nook? This is the inside of our master bedroom dormer (Note the Christmas wreath. This picture is from yesterday, so... yeah.).

Pretty pathetic, right? No one besides me, Justin, and Buggy Boy ever sees our bedroom, so unfortunately it's taken a backseat in the decorating department. In fact, right now it looks more like a McDonald's play place, complete with an inflatable ball pit and motorized Thomas the Train ride on toy, than a romantic retreat.

(Let me tell you, there's nothing quite like tripping over a giant piece of hard, blue plastic with a face and hearing, "Hello! I'm Thomas!" on your way to the bathroom at 2 o'clock in the morning to shave a year off your life.)

This little niche off the side of our bedroom has always bothered me. I think it's because it could be so cute and functional, but we don't use it for much other than storing our dirty (and clean, let's be real) laundry. We do occasionally cuddle up with Buggy Boy and read stories, which I absolutely love. But I wanted it to be something more comfortable, functional and considerably less depressing.

That was until I took Buggy Boy to my parents' house to hang out for a few hours and came home to the makings of one cozy, darling little built-in window seat.

While we were gone, Justin built the window seat I've been whining talking about for months now.

Apparently building a window seat is basically just building a giant wooden box and then screwing it into the wall. Who knew?

He started by building two rectangular frames, one for the top of the box, and one for the bottom. Next, he ripped a sheet of plywood down to fit inside the frames. He screwed two of these sheets into the frames about three and a half feet apart. These are the interior supports that help hold the top of the seat up.

Next, he screwed the top and bottom frames into the wall.

He also ripped up the carpet beneath the window seat. We have big plans to rip up that carpet and lay down hardwood in the future. We won't put hardwood under the window seat, but we didn't necessarily want carpet under there, either.

Once the frame was in place, he faced the front of the seat with tongue and groove pine planks my dad picked up and donated to our supply of random boards in the barn.

Next he cut a large square out of  sheet of oak plywood and reattached the square with hinges. He screwed it into the top frame of the box. Now the window seat lid can open, and we can store things like blankets and off-season clothes.

That's it! The front still needs to be painted, the top needs to be sanded and stained, and we should probably consider tacking down that loose bit of carpet that's just hanging out on the left side there.

But considering this was less than a day's work, and I didn't have to do any of it, I'm pretty impressed!

Here's to a new year, new projects, and sweet, power tool wielding husbands!

Happy 2015!