Furniture Redo: Coffee Table to Bench

I Found this Hidden Gem at the Salvation Army.  I knew I could definately shrink it to bench size. It was all solid wood and made very well. 

I removed the top:

 It was supposed to have glass in it, but they couldn't find them so I got an even bigger discount (:

(I will use this frame for another project in the future, I've already primed it, you'll just have to wait to see what I do with it.)

 After I took the top off, I removed all of the legs and the bottom shelf.  I was left with the apron that I needed to cut about 5 inches off the shorter sides.  It was really easy, two cuts and I was done. (I used the miter saw to keep my cuts straight).  I then reattached the legs.

Now I had to figure out the bottom shelf.  It was a frame and a rattan insert on a piece of backerboard.  I kicked out the rattan backing (well, not really kicked, but I did use my feet for to press the staples away from the frame).

 I then had to take the frame apart, but only the one side.  I had a little difficulty because, like I said, this piece was made very well and it had dowels holding the mitered corners together.  I tried to pry them apart so I could re-use the dowel method, but was unsuccessful, so I took the saw to it, using a miter box.


Now I had to measure and cut the smaller side of the bottom shelf framing using a miter box.  I picked up some dowels at Ace hardware (they sell them individually).  I drilled where the old dowels were and made new holes on the newly cut side, and inserted the dowels with some wood glue.  I straped them while the glue dried.

I reattached the shelf to the frame:

I picked up a piece of MDF and had the guy at the store cut it down for me.  I sanded, primed and painted it and then reattached it to the frame.

Here is the finished bench: (sorry for bad pictures, this area of my house doesn't have any natural light, so my camera doesn't take the best pictures here)

This was my inspiration:

(Source?)

Pretty close match, huh?  I think mine is actually better because of the bottom shelf. 

Ok, here is the reminder:

Before                                                 After

Yes, you can do it too!  I was a lot easier than you'd think!