Not difficult at all if you have a table saw, a jointer, a planer, a radial arm or miter saw, clamps and glue. Plus screws, or a biscuit joiner, or dowel capabilities. And the proper hardware to attach the legs to the skirt. Oh, and a caul set(or equivalent) to insure the glued up top piece is flat.

Plus, of course, enough lumber to make all the pieces.

It is not difficult at all and you don't need all the tools handymac lists, just some basic ones. Go to ana-white.com and you'll find very similar plans and a forum offering lots of support. I'm linking her modern bench, which only requires a saw and drill with a countersink bit. I've built some of her pieces and they are very easy to follow. Happy building!

Here is a link that might be useful: Modern Farmhouse Bench

It is not difficult at all and you don't need all the tools handymac lists, just some basic ones.

Yes, it is that difficult unless you want something that looks like a recycled pallet. At the very least you need a planer, jointer, and table saw. The former two make the wood flat and square, the later dimensions it to size. Then you need a pretty decent set of clamps just to glue up the seats. Plus some way to join the legs to the rails. You might use something like pocket screws but mortises and tenon or loose tenons would be more traditional. Perhaps a router to round over a sharp edges. Of course, there's still sanding and finishing.

Ana's plans are quite interesting. I'd love to see a piece of 12" wide, 48" long piece of 8/4 wood that didn't require any other steps to make it flat. Not to mention in anything other than construction grade pine, it's going to be pretty pricey.

If you want to go the construction wood route, then glue-lam beams are a good choice. They're typically flatter and drier than regular 2x's.

I think questions like this get some people's hackles up because they implicitly (even if unintentionally) question the value of professional woodworkers' time and skills. Whether you can DIY this yourself and save money depends on what you'd actually be satisfied with. If you want furniture that actually looks like the commercial bench you linked to and that lasts a long time then you either buy it or make a considerable investment in time, tools and skills to build it yourself. On the other hand, if you won't look too closely at these benches and don't expect to actually sit on them often, the Ana White stuff might work for you for a while. No professional could stay in business selling furniture built so poorly because they'd drown in a flood of complaints, but DIY'ers routinely cut themselves all sorts of slack, and that's fine. Money is tight almost everywhere these days, and there's no shame in adapting to reality. I hope you find a solution that works for you.

Jon1270: I like your analysis.

One of my daughters watches a lot of the HGTV design and remodel shows. I cringe when I see the stuff they do, and always note that they never show close-ups of the stuff made from MDF and finished with a paint roller.

Thanks to all of you. I think we will give up on this. TX

I don't know where you live, but here where I am they have big warehouses full of old furniture. You might also have a place that sells stuff left from buildings that were demolished. For the window seat, you could use something like an old church bench or something similar. Ask around at the dump, salvation army store, a place that sells salvage from wrecked buildings and places like that. It may take a while, but you could find something that will fit quite well.