Several years ago I was lucky enough to get a shed-your basic barn-type, but I was so thrilled! One of the first things we did was brainstorm on a bench for the inside. I don't have a picture & it's too dark now, but here are a few features we used to make it SOOOOO useful. Height-if you've spent years planting & potting on the kitchen table, your back knows what I mean. The correct height for you makes all the difference! From the ground up: I got 3 plastic storage totes with lids that fit just right lined up side by side on the floor of the shed between the frame of the bench. These hold my potting mix, compost & such-I just slide them out to access them & slide them back. I think this would also work outside if you find them without a concave lid (don't want to breed those skeeters!) Above this is a shelf, not a terribly high space, but perfect for some pots, tools, row cover-you get the idea! On top is the top. It extends 3-4" in front of the frame so that after potting you can just pull your tote forward & sweep the fallen soil back in-easy & tidy! The front edge of the frame being in back of the surface gives you a conveinient place to drive a couple of nails to hold your brush to sweep the dirt with, a dustpan if you need to dispose of the debris, a flyswatter, or anything you'd like to have ready at hand. Since it's inside a shed with exposed studs, we notched out the rear side of the top to fit around the studs to prevent stuff from falling down behind the bench! Another cheap tip-2 screw eyes & a piece of dowel that slides into them makes a dandy paper towel holder! Mine was built of mostly used wood, topped with old rubber conveyor belting & while it is totally functional & not as pretty as some of those you've done, these are features that you could use even on the cuter ones!

Kirk, we can't find any "American rust" that isn't priced at the antique level! DH found some old barn wood at a great price and we're hitting all the flea marts and yard sales for the iron work, to no avail! Luckily he's a partially out of work wood carver and can carve some brackets and decorative things to add to the bench! I'm thinking of taking up carving myself! Thanks for your great photos to get us started! Nancy

Oh my goodness! I had to laugh when you said that you thought you'd do a little tweaking. ;-) Your "tweaking" looks amazing! Love the color, the shelves, the brackets, the grate on the back...heck, I just love the whole darn thing! I'd say you should be doin' a happy dance!

I'm going to post the directions for this bench here as I have had another request about how to make it & can't figure out how to go back & pick up the last E mail I sent out about it & copy it so here goes... I got an old barn door from my junk store for the back. I decided how high I wanted the bench shelf to be. Mine is higher than counter height as I am tall. I then took a 2x4 & placed it across the back of the door right below the height of the top bench. This is the brace for the shelf. I then made a 3 sided box to be the rest of the brace for the top. I attached this to the outsides of the brace that was on the door. Then I decided how high I wanted the bottom shelf. & did the same thing down below. I then stood the shelf up while my son held it & measured how long the legs needed to be. I cut the legs out of 2x4's & attached those to the inside of the legs. Now it could stand up on it's own. I decided where I wanted the basin to be & then placed a brace on each side to support the wood after cutting the hole. I used deck boards for the top of the shelves. I left an overhang of about 1 inch on each side when I placed the deck boards for both of the shelves. I used my sons Rotozip to cut the round hole. Then I dropped in an old galvanized basin that I got from my junk store.Make sure you measure the size of the basin before you go cutting that hole. I made mine about a half inch smaller than the basin measured. This allows enough of a lip to keep it from dropping the whole way through The only prep work I did to the door was to clean it up a bit with a wire brush so it would hold the paint better. I used screws so my joints would stay tight. Incidently, the hooks are dragon fly hooks that I found for cheap on E bay, & the hose reel is a cheap aluminum one I found on E bay too. Oh I almost forgot about the top shelf. I found the metal iron work at (yep you guessed it!) my favorite junk shop. They already had screw holes in so they were great supports for my very top shelf. Well, that's the story of my little potting bench! If anyone else makes it, I would love to see your rendition of it. Someone said I should make them & sell them. There are so many different things you can do with them. Different color paint, different accessories, grape vine wreaths, bells, mirrors, windows, oh my! I could go on & on about what you can do with them. But anyway I just hope you have as much fun with it & it gives you as much joy as it is me! And remember, you don't know what you can do until you try!!