DIY cafe-style breakfast bar

[daniknight4]

We have always wanted a bar bench on the window ledge outside our kitchen window, more so I think for the look of it, but it also comes in handy as a servery from inside the kitchen to the patio outside.

Recently we thought we'd have a go at it, as we had some left-over merbau from the kitchen bench. We decided against using that though as we were worried if it got wet the tanin might run onto the tiles and stain them - it stained a little under the kitchen sink in the cabinet - and so we bought a pine bench. 

After a rough start we finally got there in the end, although I imagine some people watching our build may think, "what are they doing!" 

Below are a few photos explaining what we did at certain stages and also a video on our process.

I look at it every day thinking, wow we did that and it doesn't look too bad.😁😆

[MitchellMc]

Wow, what a neat project, @daniknight4! 

That sloped brick window ledge is a fairly common building technique found on homes everywhere. I trust any of our members with one are now considering replicating your project, as your results are amazing. Would you mind going into a little more detail about your failure at the start? Any pitfalls you could identify for our members would be very helpful.

Many thanks for sharing this inspiring project, and I look forward to seeing what project you'll tackle next.

Mitchell

[daniknight4]

Thank you @MitchellMc 

Yes, at the start we ran into a little problem 😁. David screwed a piece of wood onto the end of the windowsill, 

and it went straight into the mortar then proceeded to fall straight off 😂.

As it turned out that was a blessing because I didn't like the look of that at all plus, I think it would not have had as much strength to hold the bench in place.

The only other option we could think of was to put it where we did at the front and that worked out much better I think, functionally and aesthetically😊.

Thank you for your kind words.

[prettyliving]

This looks fantastic @daniknight4 

We have a kitchen window backing on to our patio with the sloped bricks too, so this is very inspiring for when we do our kitchen & patio reno! 
Thanks for sharing! 

[daniknight4]

Oh thank you @prettyliving

We were surprised it turned out so well😊

[EricL]

Hi @daniknight4

Thank you so much for sharing those photos and the details of your construction. I have the exact same window in my home, this would make a perfect breakfast bar addition to my kitchen window. It looks fantastic and the finish really blends in with your brick wall. That Cabothane clear should provide your table with very good protection even if it gets a little bit of rain on it. 

Again, thank you for sharing such an inspiring project.

Eric

[daniknight4]

Hi @EricL Thank you. Yes I should have said water resistant rather than waterproof after I put the varnish on. Luckily it shouldn't really get wet at all although sometimes in a torrential downpour water can leak through. Didn't want to take that chance with the merbau  though😊

[prvz27]

Thanks for sharing this, looks fantastic and neat, enjoy!

[daniknight4]

Thank you so much @prvz27 😊