DIY

As part of her spring ‘23 ORC dining nook project, Emily of @homeoncastlerock and her husband built this incredible built-in banquette.

Although DIY built-in elements are becoming a more and more popular way to upgrade and customize, in builder-basic spaces especially, banquettes are a much less common project than desks or shelving or cabinets.

This completed dining nook completely makes the case for DIYing a built-in banquette. It’s an efficient use of space, it makes any dining area feel unique and cozy, and it elevates the room.

Besides the planning and sketching stage, the only preparation necessary was trimming the baseboard where it would abut the bench.

Then, Emily’s husband got right to work building the frame. He used quite a few support pieces, since it would ultimately have to be safe for multiple people to sit on.

After a quick supply run, they were ready to start adding the facing to the frame.

As you can see in the second photo, they attached 2x4 boards to the studs for the top of the bench to sit on, rather than building a whole back frame piece. This saved quite a bit of wood, and strongly secured the whole thing to the wall.

They used thick, sturdy MDF for the top of the bench, and thinner hardboard for the sides, since those are cosmetic and not structural.

In addition to adding on baseboard that matches the rest of the house, they added molding to every face of the bench and filled all the gaps around the molding.

The texture accent on the walls behind it, while not part of the banquette, are another wonderful detail of the space.

Next, the banquette was ready to be primed and painted this beautiful pale beige color. The color choice gives the banquette a wonderful, subtle warmth and softness.

Part of the magic of DIY is getting to customize every aspect and be as imaginative as you want. Emily included this absolutely delightful mini-table where her son can do a craft or have a snack, using a few extra pieces of wood and a drawer track.

The banquette’s effect on the space is undeniable. Emily and her husband did a fantastic job with this dining nook!

The ORC editors recently put together a guide of their favorite DIY products. You can check out all their recommendations here.

We want to feature your amazing DIY projects! Send us photos or videos from your One Room Challenge® project via this form.