This DIY outdoor sectional sofa is built from plywood and features storage for the cushions. See our source for affordable patio seat cushions and build your own patio seating/daybed with this outdoor furniture plan.
We built this patio sectional sofa for our deck — it pairs nicely with this outdoor coffee table with drink trough! Plus see how we refinished the deck (after this photo!), built that garden wedding arbor, and added a new modern deck pergola.
As part of our #PlywoodPretty Challenge that we are hosting during our all plywood project Plywood Pretty week, we designed this modern plywood outdoor sofa for our deck. It’s sturdy and comfortable, the perfect outdoor couch for our patio! It’s nice and deep (24 inches!) so it can also work as a type of patio daybed if you like.
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DIY Outdoor Sectional Sofa with Cushion Storage
As we were designing this outdoor sectional sofa, we knew we wanted these features:
- an L-shaped sectional sofa to fit our deck
- designed to fit these affordable 24″ outdoor cushions
- cushion storage to keep them dry and last longer.
Each section of the sofa will be made out of two sheets of 3/4″ inch birch plywood.
The pieces of the sofa are joined using pocket holes. To prevent wasps or other bugs from living in those small holes, we designed the sofa to be finished on all ends so the pocket holes are covered. We also added an extra block behind the seat support to prevent wasp nests.
See more details of the deck furniture and decor here:Outdoor Sofa Sectional Reveal
Be sure to check out all the #PlywoodPretty Challenge projects on our playlist and links below, and subscribe by email or RSS and follow along over on YouTube and Facebook and Instagram with #PlywoodPretty so you won’t miss any of these new tutorials!
How to Build an Outdoor Sectional Sofa from Plywood
Materials For One Sectional
Build 2 sections as shown in the video to form an L-shaped outdoor sectional, or 3 sections for a U-shaped outdoor sectional.
- (2) 4 ‘x 8’ x 3/4″ Sheets of Birch Plywood
- (1) 4 ‘x 8’ x 1/4″ Sheet of Birch Plywood (optional bottom cover)
- (1) 2 x 4 x 8’ Redwood
- (55+) 1 ¼” Kreg Jig Pocket Screws
- (12+) ¾” wood screws (for optional bottom cover)
- (12+) 1 ¼” wood screws (for optional bottom cover)
- (1+) Elmer’s Carpenter’s Wood Glue Max
- (1) Elmers Pro Bond Wood Filler
- plus (3) 24″ deep patio cushions
I wish I had my table saw workbench when I built this sectional! It makes big rip cuts so easy and precise. See the details here.
Tools Used
- Table Saw
- Miter Saw
- Circular Saw
- Kreg Jig pocket hole jig
- Drill
- Spring Clamps (lots of them)
- Tape Measure
- Pencil
- 80/120/220 Sandpaper and Sanding Block
- (2+) Saw Horses
- Putty Knife
Get the outdoor sectional woodworking plans here
The 13-page printable woodworking plan includes materials list, cut list, and assembly diagrams and photos.
See more outdoor furniture plans to build this summer
New to working with plywood? Read our best tips for building with plywood here.
DIY Modern Plywood Outdoor Sofa Sectional FAQs
What size is the outdoor sectional?
The L-shaped sectional is formed from 2 sections, each measuring 72 3/8″ L x 24 1/4″ D x 24″ H.
One sectional has a back along all 3 edges; the other has a back only along 2 edges to allow for the corner seat.
How is the sectional assembled?
As you can see in the video tutorial, we used pocket hole joinery to attach the pieces of plywood together to form each of the sectional arms. All the pocket holes are covered by the finishing panels, so no worries of bugs and wasps nesting there!
We used a redwood 2×4 as a bench support to ensure that the sectional is sturdy, so the whole family can enjoy this outdoor couch seating together!
The seat is 2 panels of plywood, glued and screwed together to form a very strong sofa base to sit on. Clamps are your friend for this part of the process so it wouldn’t hurt to buy them in bulk if you don’t already have a great collection of clamps.
See our mobile clamp rack and dust collection solution.
After assembling, the plywood sofa is finished with side pieces to hide the pocket holes. 
How do you waterproof plywood for outdoor use?
For finishing, first fill in any holes with Elmer’s Pro Bond Wood Filler, let that dry then sand everything smooth. Don’t forget to remove the tags before sanding and finishing!
Filling all of the plywood gaps and voids to smooth will help prevent water or dirt from building up in those places.
We love the look of raw plywood — like the banded edges we featured prominently in this stacked plywood bench — so we decided to leave the wood natural and seal it for waterproof.
We added several coats of an outdoor captain’s spar varnish to make it water-tight. You could also use a clear epoxy resin or a penetrating oil, such as tung oil. Whatever you choose, pay close attention to the plywood edges to ensure that they are sealed well to prevent leaks and warping.
Since this outdoor sofa doesn’t have drainage holes, even after sealing properly, you’ll want to be sure to dry it off after a rain storm (or if it gets watered by the sprinklers). It would be best for an outdoor area that is still covered — and we have since moved it to our large covered patio at our other house (with the drink cooler coffee table) since we installed our modern pergola on this deck.
See more plywood projects in the #PlywoodPretty challenge posts here:
outdoor sectional sofa | Remodelaholic (you are here!)
mini barn door for a crawl space | The Cofran Home
handlettered “hello” sign | Lemon Thistle
easy TV tray | Practical and Pretty
rolling storage drawers | Happy Go Lucky
mid-century modular lego table | The Created Home
entryway bench | Woodshop Diaries
farmhouse sign | Our Crafty Mom
mid-century daybed | Paper Daisy Design
produce bins | Anika’s DIY Life
plywood accent wall | Diva of DIY
kids chairs with storage | Our House Now a Home
Published 04.01.2017 // Updated 03.13.2020
What an amazing project!! The step by step tutorial actually makes me think I could build this & I am a novice!! Thank you for the inspiration and for organizing this great challenge. I am blown away by the incredible projects all from plywood! #plywoodpretty
You can totally do it Michelle!! Thank you for joining in on our plywood pretty week!
Oh my goodness! Your Outdoor Sectional is fabulous. Thanks for the awesome tutorial. My deck is in need of a major makeover and this is exactly what we need for it.
Thank you so much we really love it! It’s amazing how pleasant it is to be able to go out in the backyard and sit really comfortably on the sofa just makes you want to go outside more often !
This is such a good idea! I’ve wanted an outdoor sectional for ages, but just haven’t been able to make it work budget-wise. I never even thought of a DIY plywood one. Super awesome post – thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Larissa!
Awesome project.
I’m thinking of doing the same out of pine plywood. For outdoor use. Would you recommend treated, or untreated and sealed with a varnish?
Cheers.
I do think pine (or cedar – but that’s more expensive!) would be a good choice for outdoors! We ended up putting hours under a roof to keep it safe and it’s holding up fine there but it really doesn’t get wet!
I think if I were finishing it I would do an oil that penetrates the word rather than a poly that will heat and peel in the sun ! That way when you need to put on an extra coat you won’t need to remove the previous coat of poly you can just add another coat of oil and it makes the word stronger and stronger every yea coat of poly you can just add another coat of oil and it makes the word stronger and stronger every year!
I want to see your project when you’re done !!
Thank you for this awesome design! I always see so many outdoor sectionals I love but the cost keeps me away. I used to build a lot with my dad when I was younger and this inspires me to get back into it! Hoping to build this over the winter and have it ready come Spring time 🙂
We’d love to see pictures when you do, Samantha!
Is the back a strong enough support since it is just ply wood? Is their an oil sealant that you would reccomend?
The back is really strong and I did seal it with captains varnish to protect it. I just have not done a video about that yet.