The simple media bench

My first real woodworking project, made in Jan 2010.

I had just moved to a new apartment and had nowhere to put my TV and gaming consoles. Looked around in the shops but most benches were either too expensive, too large or just plain ugly. Came up with the idea of building my own; started making drawings and collecting pictures of furniture I liked.

Some constraints I decided on:

• Narrow so as to be able to fit the strange planning of my living room.
• Low so when watching from the sofa I would not have to look upwards.
• Some breathing room for my electronics: bottom shelf is fitted for the receiver that has vents on top, middle shelf is for consoles that mostly have venting on the sides.
• Simple so I could construct it with my limited experience, tools and work space (Kitchen!)
• As cheap and aesthetically pleasing as possible :)

I kept removing complicated features such as storage that would require drawers or doors, until this simple design remained.

It was also my first ever encounter with wood stain. I put on two coats of cherry stain, the somewhat rough surface of the boards took it nicely.

I’m very happy with the result and my new hobby!

-- Mathias Anderssén