Witch Wood Works

The issue: We have a shoe-off household and have a small entryway with no place to put on/take off or store shoes. More often than not we end up with what I call a shoe garden that you have to tip-toe through to get out the front door. We also need a place to store hats, gloves, and dog leash.

The Solution: A custom sized shoe bench to fit under a low window with a shelf for shoes and storage for gloves.

I started with a Sketchup model and figured out the dimensions before heading to the store to pick up some wood. Based on price and availability I ended up grabbing aspen wood. I had not worked with it before, but a quick google search at the store said it was pleasant enough to work with.

I started with cutting out all of the pieces and cut this very subtle angle on the bottom of the legs to give it a lighter look. The legs are “L” shaped and I lazily only cut the shape on the front face of the legs. In hindsight I think it would have been better to cut the sides as well.

I drilled what seemed like an endless number of holes for dowels using a simple doweling jig. I struggled on a consistent way to drill a second hole in the cross bars for the shelf so I ended up just drilling the top hole and used a pocket hole for the bottom.

Dry fitting the frame and wrapping the skirt that will hold the hats and gloves.

Prepping the frame for glue

Applied glue and clamps.

Moved clamps to the top and flipped over so I could screw in pocket screws on the bottom.

I forgot to photograph adding the skirt, bottom, and the lids. Add the skirt was a struggle. If I were to reproduce this I would for sure change the design. Maybe make the skirt part of the frame instead of wrapping it.

I ended up just butt joining the the ends of the skirt board, but after staining I wish I had mitered the corners. The Aspen wood did not take stain very well and after the fact I read online that it stains very similar to poplar a can end up kind of splotchy.

For the lid I cut three equal panels and drilled a 1″ hole in the center. I did a round over on both sides of the holes and on the skirt.

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