If you have been following our cabin build, you know that our plans for under the stairs involve some DIY of turning massive, 12-foot antique church pews into a custom corner banquette (If you missed that post, read it here.)
Getting them home was an adventure in itself, but this week, it was time for the really scary part: cutting into decades-old, incredibly solid wood, with unique angles and curves, to upcycle a straight pew into corner seating. Here is how Phase 2 of the great church pew project went down (and why we aren’t completely out of the woods yet!).
The Setup: It Takes a Village (And Three Lasers)
When you are dealing with antique furniture that doesn’t have a single square corner or straight edge, standard DIY math goes out the window.
We knew we couldn’t mess this up. We created a mock-up with foam board and made some cuts. But we ended up calling in reinforcements. Our amazing neighbor, Dan, came over to help us tackle the geometry of making two angled pieces meet perfectly in a corner.
To make sure our cuts were perfectly aligned, we didn’t just use one laser level. We used three. (And Dan loaned us his and gave us directions he concocted with his engineering brain!) Our workspace looked like a high-tech security grid from a spy movie! Once the laser lines were dialed in, we put painter’s tape on and drew the cut lines. We had to do this because to make the cuts, we had to dismantle the pew. Once the lines were drawn, we took the pew apart and broke out the heavy machinery. It took a couple of different types of saws to carefully slice through the thick, historic wood, but we finally got the pieces separated.
The Move to the Cabin
With the giant pews finally cut down to size, we loaded the heavy pieces into the back of the truck and made the drive out to the cabin. (They fit much nicer than when we brought the 12-foot beast back to our house in one piece!)
The spot for our new dining nook sits right underneath our newly finished, custom-stained stairs. (If you missed why we completely dismantled our stairs to rebuild them, you can read that saga here!).
We wrestled the heavy wood pieces through the door, slid them into the corner under the stairs, and stepped back to look.
What’s Next: To Cut or To Sand?
So, how are we going to fix the gap and make this look like a custom built-in? We are honestly still debating the best strategy for Phase 3!
We have two options:
- Fire up the saws again and try to shave off tiny, precise slivers of wood until the angles match perfectly.
- Break out the heavy-duty sander and just keep sanding down the joints until things finally slide into place.
We will be spending next week tweaking, adjusting, and hopefully connecting these pieces for good. (Plus installing a cozy light 💡 I found at a consignment shop that will look amazing in the nook + possibly installing an ERV in the cabin 😱)
What would you do? Are you team “Measure and Cut” or team “Sand it Until It Fits”? Let me know in the comments!
