Hey everyone, this is Susan. Today I want to share another 2-hour project, a bar stool for our home.
It’s an easy beginner build joined using pocket holes.
The bright red color goes really well with the green colors in the indoor plants.
Check out other two-hour DIY projects:
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Things You Need for this Build
Materials
- 2 in. x 2 in. x 8 ft. Furring Strip Board Lumber – Two Pieces
- 1 in. x 12 in. x 4 ft. Pine Common Board – 1 piece
- 1 in. x 4 in. x 6 ft. S4S White Wood Board – 1 piece
- Wood Glue
- Barn Red Stain
Tools
Plan for making the Homemade Bar Stool
How to Make the Homemade Bar Stool
Please note the difference in dimension between nominal size and actual size. For e.g., 2 x 4 is the nominal size while 1-½” x 3-½” is the actual size. This is a standard convention.
So all the pieces for this build are made of square furring strips of actual section size 1-½” x 1-½” with different lengths ( nominal size- 2 x 2), except the top board, which is made of a 1 x 12 piece and 1 x 4 piece (both are nominal sizes)
Making the legs and the horizontal bracing
We cut out four pieces for the leg at 30” length from the square dowel to get four pieces of size-1-½” x 1-½” x 30”.
Then we cut out eight pieces for the horizontal bracing pieces at 1-½” x 1-½” x 30” size. (Four at the top and four at the bottom)
Making the Inclined bracing pieces
Then we had to make the eight small pieces for the Inclined bracing pieces. We made them on the miter saw at 1-½” x 1-½” x 30” size with a 45 degree mitered edge on each end.
Before we joined the pieces we sanded all the pieces thoroughly up to 180 grit.
Making the Pocket holes in the pieces
We used pocket-hole joinery for joining all the pieces. All the pocket holes for this project are to be made in the horizontal bracing pieces.
We set the kreg jig at the setting/depth for 1-½” material and made two pocket holes in each piece in the horizontal bracing.
Joining the bracing pieces to the legs
Then we marked the locations for attaching the bracing pieces to the leg pieces as per plan.
Then we used 2-½ inch pocket hole screws to join each bracing piece (both horizontal bracing and angled bracing) to the legs.
We applied wood glue on the end of each bracing pieces before screwing it to the leg.
Thus, each joint has the strength from the pocket hole screws and wood glue both.
Attaching the inclined bracing pieces to the frame
Next we attached the inclined bracing pieces to the frame using wood glue and nails.
Making the top piece of the stool
Next we made the pieces for the top seat. We took a ¾” x 11-¼” sized board (Nominal size -1″ x 12″) and another board of size ¾” x 3-½” (Nominal size -1″ x 4″).
We cut them to the length of 14-¾” each.
We placed both the boards on the frame we made earlier and centered it.
Then we applied wood glue on the frame and the pieces for the top and nailed it to the frame using 2-½ inch nails.
Additional clamping is not necessary as the nail holds the top piece to the frame.
The nail is really only a temporary connection until the glue cures.
The glue is what ultimately gives strength to the joint, not the nail.
Finishing the bar stool
We sanded the top piece of the bar stool thoroughly before staining.
Then we stained the entire piece using Barn Red Stain from Varathane.
Hope you liked this bright barn red bar stool. It can be used as a focal point for a room due to its bright color.
Let me know by message or mail if you would like to see more bar stool projects.
Check out other DIY Wooden Stool Projects:
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If you liked this build , you might want to save the pin below to your DIY/Woodworking board.
