Hallway Bench

 Here are some pictures from my most recently completed project: a hallway bench with lid and storage inside for boots and shoes.

•  Oak frame, with walnut panels.
•  Joinery includes through grooves on rails and tenons on stiles. Frames are rabbeted and then chamfered to give a nice shadow line along the panel/frame joint.
•  Lid is rounded over along front and sides.
• Corners are spline mitered with a Walnut spline for a nice contrast.
• Finishing was accomplished in 2 stages and included 1 coat of General Finishes Seal-a-Cell, and 3 coats of GF Urethane Topcoat.
• First stage - finish all the panels and inside edges of frames before assembly
• Second stage -  After glue-up of panels complete finishing the frames

Dry fit of the box

Splined miter joint

Dry fitting panels

Glue up of the lid

Finishing panels and inside edges of box sides before the glue up of each side

grain matching on the lid prior to glue up

Panel assembly - 16 floating panels in all!

Glue-up of the box.

Completed Box!