Entryway Storage Bench

Cut the sheets into manageable pieces with a circular saw and a straight-edge before you try to wrestle a full 4x8 sheet across a table saw. Fighting a full sheet alone is how people get hurt and how cuts go crooked.

Then cut to final size on the table saw.

Pocket-hole the bottom to the sides and the two dividers, screwing from the underside and inside faces where the holes won't show.

Add the back — glue and screw it. It squares the case and stops it from racking when someone drops onto the seat.

Check the diagonals before the glue grabs.

Edge-glue poplar to make a 16-1/2" x 49" slab, 1-1/2" thick. Alternate the growth rings, use cauls, clamp it flat.

This is the only structural solid-wood part. Take your time.

Pocket-hole the poplar stiles and rails into a frame, then glue and clamp it onto the front of the plywood carcass.

The face frame is what hides the plywood edges and makes it read as furniture instead of a box.

Screw up through the top of the carcass into the seat, using oversized clearance holes so the solid seat can move seasonally without splitting.

A 16"-wide poplar slab moves about 1/8" across the year. Give it room.

Fill every screw hole and every plywood edge void. Sand it all flush at 150, then 180.

Prime. Then sand the primer — this is the step that separates a paint job that looks professional from one that looks like a weekend project. Primer raises grain; knock it back with 220.

Two coats of enamel. Let it cure a few days before you load it with boots — latex enamel takes a week to reach full hardness, and boots on soft paint leave marks forever.