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DIY Upholstered Bench using 2 x 4 boards

By Anika Gandhi

Learn how to build a simple DIY upholstered bench using 2x4 boards with detailed plans, tutorial, and video. It makes the perfect end of bed bench!

DIY 2x4 bench with upholstered top at the end of the bed with text overlay

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This DIY bench is a quick project – perfect for the weekend!

I have been slowly building furniture for my bedroom and the last remaining piece of the puzzle was an end of the bed bench. With this simple yet cozy bench, the bedroom is complete!

DIY bench with upholstered top at the end of a bed

Table of Contents

The best part is that this bench is built from only two 2 x 4 boards making it really easy on the budget. It comes in under $10 for the lumber! Can’t beat that!

I decided to upholster the top with faux fur. It is simply so soft and luxurious! But you do not have to make an upholstered top. This bench can easily be modified to be an indoor/outdoor bench. See more about that here.

I know the X-leg features can be intimidating with all the angles for beginners but I have you covered with the plans, a video and lots of tips and tricks below. You will also find the following articles useful in building this bench –

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***This post contains affiliate or referral links. It is a way for this site to earn advertising fees by advertising or linking to certain products and/or services. Please read my full disclosure here ***

Material Needed for the bench

How to build the upholstered bench

I have a full video tutorial showing you exactly how to build this bench.

How to build a 2x4 Bench - 3 ways - Indoor and Outdoor Bench

Click here to subscribe to my YouTube Channel for more great videos!

Step by step tutorial

Step 1 – Make the cuts

  • Make the cuts per the cut list in the plans. I would recommend dry-fitting the cuts as you go to get the best possible fit.
  • Sand them smooth.
2x4 boards cut for the DIY bench on the garage floor

Tip – When cutting angles – leave your miter saw set at the angle you need for all the cuts to get reproducible cuts.

STEP 2 – MAKE POCKET HOLES

  • Set the Kreg Jig and the drill bit collar at 1½” thickness and make all the pocket holes as shown in the plans. Here is a full tutorial on how to use a Kreg Jig.

Step 3 – Make the X’s for the legs

  • Assemble the 2 side X’s using wood glue and 2 ½” pocket hole screws. 
  •  Attach each of the X’s to the feet using wood glue and 2 ½” Pocket hole screws.
X-legs built using 2x4 boards to make a bench

IMPORTANT – Make sure you lay out the pieces first before proceeding to join them to make sure all the boards align well.

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Step 4 – Build the top frame

Build the frame using 2x4 boards using wood glue and 2 ½” Pocket hole screws.

DIY 2x4 bench top frame assembled with pocket holes

Step 5 – Assemble the bench

Attach the two X- legs to the frame.

Attaching the 2x4 legs to the top frame of the bench with pocket hole screws

Important – While assembling the legs, make sure the pocket holes are facing inside. You don’t want the pocket holes to be on the outside of the bench.

Step 6-  Finishing

  • If you would like to use wood filler to fill up the pocket holes, you can. I chose to leave mine alone and just filled them with stain to camouflage them in. They are hardly visible.
  • Stain or paint your bench frame. I used weathered gray and dark walnut stains mixed together to create a beautiful effect.  
Close up custom stained bench legs

Below is a video showing you exactly how I achieved the finish.

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Step 7 – Upholster the top

I decided to add an upholstered top because I wanted a nice soft seating place in the bedroom. You can totally skip this and opt for a planked top made from 2x4 boards  – which I show you in this indoor/outdoor version of this bench.

  • Cut out 1″ foam to the size of your plywood. I used a bunch of leftover foam from various projects
  • Glue the foam to the plywood using spray adhesive
bench top covered in foam
  • Cover the foam with polyfill. Wrap with batting and staple from the back.

Money-saving tip – instead of the polyfill, I used the filling from a couple of pillows – they are about $1.50 at Walmart and much cheaper than buying a bag of polyfill!!

  • Cover with the upholstery fabric and staple from the back. I chose this beautiful Faux Fur from Joann’s.
Plywood upholstered using faux fur

Step 8 – Complete the bench

Once the benchtop is upholstered, attach the top using 2” screws to the frame built in Step 5.

Attaching upholstered top to the bench frame

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Printable plans

Get the Printable plans for this bench here.

You can get the Printable Plans for this Upholstered X-bench!

Reader projects

Benches built by readers just like you!

  • How to build a custom X-leg bench
DIY Upholstered Bench using 2 x 4 boards

DIY Upholstered Bench using 2 x 4 boards

Yield: 1 Upholstered Bench

Learn how to build a simple DIY upholstered bench using 2x4 boards with detailed plans, tutorial, and video. It makes the perfect end of bed bench!

Materials

Tools

Instructions

  1. Make the cuts per the plan and sand them smooth.
  2. Set the Kreg Jig and the drill bit collar at 1½” thickness and make all the pocket holes as shown in the plans.
  3. Assemble the 2 side X’s using wood glue and 2 ½” pocket hole screws and attach each of the X’s to the feet using wood glue and 2 ½” Pocket hole screws.
  4. Build the frame using 2x4 boards using wood glue and 2 ½” Pocket hole screws.
  5. Attach the two X- legs to the frame.
  6. Stain or paint your bench frame. I used weathered gray and dark walnut stains mixed together to create a beautiful effect.  
  7. Upholster the top.
  8. Once the bench top is upholstered, attach the top using 2” screws to the frame built in Step 5.
© Anika's DIY Life
Project Type: Plans / Category: Furniture

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Janine

    Hello Anika! I am building this beautiful piece. But a correction to your cut list–for the long side leg you have it as 14 3/4. It should be 15 3/4. Cutting it 14 3/4 makes the X off by an inch. Also, it would be nice to add exactly how many 2×4 needed for the project 🙂 I am following your plans but tweaking to make it my own. I decided not upholster and am using 4 2×4 as the top. I cut my top 2×4 out to 34″, which brings the whole price measuring out to 41″ long. (I have a king size bed and needed longer) Have a great day!

    • Anika

      Thanks for pointing it out Janine. I am so sorry about the error. The printable plans list that there are 2 boards needed for this project. Of course, that is for the upholstered version. I would love to see when you finish the build. You can email it to me or upload it to the reader project section. Happy building!

  2. Evan Tracy

    Where did you use the two different plywood sizes? Where does the 1/2in go and where does the 3/4in go?!

    • Anika

      Hi Evan, The 1/2″ plywood is used for the upholstered base. There is no 3/4 ” lumber used in this build. Let me know if you have any more questions.

  3. Trish

    Beautiful! Love the easy tutorial and plans.

    • Anika

      Thanks Trish!

  4. Erlene

    Thanks for sharing your plans. Sometimes building something can be intimidating, but you make it look really easy.

  5. Nigel William

    Hi! What kind of stain did you use for the bench?

    • Anika

      Hi Nigel,
      I used a mix of grey and brown stain. There is a video tutorial about it in the post. Thanks,Anika

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