The Snowboard Bench for a Living Room With a Moose on It
There is a spot in most living rooms that never quite gets solved. Too small for a real sofa, too big to leave empty, and the coffee table you bought years ago has rings on it and a wobble nobody admits to. A Moose among the Aspens Snowboard Bench is what happens when you decide that piece should have a little soul instead of another glass top. It is a real retired snowboard, hand painted the length of the deck with a moose standing in a grove of aspens, and at roughly 60 inches long it works as a snowboard bench for a living room, a low coffee table, or a landing spot by the door, whichever your floor plan actually needs.
The Bench That Used to Be Somebody’s Season
Every one of these starts as a board that already had a life. Somebody bought it, learned on it or thrashed it, and rode it until the edges were shot and the base looked like a gravel road. Then it sat in a garage the way gear does, too worn to ride and too remembered to toss. Colorado Ski Chairs takes boards at exactly that stage, the ones with real mileage, and builds them into furniture instead of letting them fill a landfill.
You can see that history if you look. A snowboard deck is not a flat blank canvas. It has a slight camber, a tip and a tail, dings along the rail, and the ghost of an old topsheet graphic under the paint. The shop leaves that character alone rather than sanding it into a bland plank. When the moose and the aspens go on, they go on over a board that already has an outline of its own, which is why no two of these ever land the same. That is the difference between a piece with a story and a piece that just looks like one.
It helps to say plainly what this is and what it is not. It is not a chairlift pulled off a mountain, and it is not a welded replica of one. Colorado Ski Chairs makes both of those, and they are their own thing. This is a bench built on one honest retired snowboard, and the shop does not pretend it came off any particular resort, because it does not need to. The board rode somewhere. That is enough.
What It Actually Is, and What It Takes to Build One
Here is a fact worth knowing before you shop, because it separates the real makers from the folks reselling imports. A snowboard bench takes one snowboard. One. The deck is long enough and strong enough to become the seat and the visible face of the bench, set into a solid wood frame that carries the weight and gives it legs. That is genuinely true, and it is why a bench like this is something a shop can build from a single board that meant something to you.
A chair is a different animal. Colorado Ski Chairs will tell you straight that a snowboard chair needs at least three boards, and a ski Adirondack chair eats four to five pairs of skis, because a chair has a back, a seat, arms and a frame to cover. People are often surprised by that, and they should be, because most of the internet is happy to imply that one pair of anything becomes a whole chair. It does not. A bench, though, honestly does come from one board, and that is part of why this piece is such a good entry point into the reclaimed gear world. You are not being asked to donate a closet full of hardware.
The frame under the deck is solid wood, stained and sealed to match or contrast the board. The whole thing lands at roughly 60 inches wide, 18 inches deep and 17 inches tall, which is coffee table height on purpose. It carries up to 300 pounds, so sitting on it is expected, not a gamble. You can put two adults on it, or a stack of boots, or a dinner plate and a laptop and a couple of drinks, and it does not flinch.
The Moose, the Aspens, and Why It Gets Painted by Hand
Aspen groves are all vertical lines. A snowboard is one long horizontal. Painting one on the other is a small design problem, and the way this piece solves it is the reason it looks the way it does. The white trunks march across the deck end to end, spaced the way a real stand of aspens crowds together, and the moose stands among them, dark against the pale bark. The knots and the eyes on the aspens go in last, by hand, one at a time, which is the kind of detail you only get from a person who has painted a lot of trees.
All of it is done in exterior oil paint, the same grade that lets the piece live outdoors if you want it to. Hand painting is slower than a printed wrap or a vinyl sticker, and it costs more, and it is also the whole point. A wrap looks like a wrap. A hand painted mural has brush texture and small imperfections that read as craft rather than mistakes, and it holds up to weather and sun in a way a stick-on graphic never will.
One honest note for anyone thinking about a company version of this. A painted scene, a moose, mountains, a stand of trees, all of that is fair game for the brush. A logo is not. Colorado Ski Chairs does not hand paint a company logo, because a logo has to hold its exact shape and color, and freehand is the wrong tool for that. A brand mark goes on as a clean logo decal floated over the painted background, with aluminum or plastic appliques as alternatives, and that kind of branded work is quoted on a call rather than listed online. More on that later, but it is worth saying up front so nobody expects a painted logo.
One Bench, and at Least Three Jobs
The reason this piece sells the way it does is that it refuses to be just one thing. Set it in front of the couch and it is a coffee table, deep enough to hold drinks, a couple of books, a laptop and the remote that always goes missing. Move it to the entry and it becomes the bench where you sit to pull your boots off, with room underneath for the pairs that pile up by October. Slide it between two chairs on the porch and it is a shared side table that also seats an extra guest when the party runs long.
That flexibility is not marketing. It comes straight from the shape. A 60 inch bench at coffee table height, rated to 300 pounds, is genuinely useful in three or four spots, so people tend to move it around the house as seasons change. In winter it lives by the door catching snow boots. In summer it goes out to the deck. When company comes it slides in front of the fire and holds a tray. Furniture that earns its keep in more than one room is rare, and it is a big part of why this one is a steady seller instead of a novelty.
It also solves the awkward-narrow-space problem better than most things. A lot of entryways and living rooms have a wall that is too short for real seating and too long to ignore. A bench this length fills that wall, gives you a place to sit or set things down, and does it without eating the walkway the way a chair with arms would.
Where a Snowboard Bench for a Living Room Actually Belongs
The obvious home is the mountain place, the cabin or the condo near the hill, where a snowboard bench for a living room reads as exactly right rather than trying too hard. It fits a room with wood, wool blankets and a woodstove, and it gives a rental cabin the kind of detail that ends up in a guest’s photos. Property owners like that part, because a piece guests photograph is free advertising that keeps working after the weekend is over.
It travels well beyond the cabin, though. It looks at home in a real living room in the suburbs where somebody wants a nod to the seasons they spend chasing snow. It works in a finished basement, a bonus room, a lake house, or a lodge lobby where a low bench under a window does more than a bare sill. Because the palette is up to you, it can lean rustic and woodsy or clean and modern depending on the colors you pick and the frame stain you choose.
Businesses find uses for it too, which is where a piece like this quietly earns its place in a lobby or a break room. A reclaimed snowboard bench in a reception area says more about a company than a rack of brochures, and it invites people to sit rather than stand around waiting. For a ski town brewery, an outdoor outfitter, or a mountain real estate office, a bench built from a real board is on-brand without a word of copy.
Making It Yours: Colors, Critters, and Boards
The moose and aspens are the pictured version, not the only version. The colors are yours to choose, so the same layout can go moody and dark or bright and graphic depending on your room. If a moose is not your animal, the grove can hold a bear, an elk, a fox, or whatever fits the story you want the piece to tell. People do this for a reason, usually because the animal means something, the elk from the valley they hunt or the bear that keeps raiding the cabin trash.
You can also ask about specific board brands. If you rode a certain deck for years and you want that exact make under the paint, the shop will try to source it or work with one you send. That crosses into sentimental territory, and it is worth a phone call to talk through, because the right board turns a nice bench into a piece with your own miles on it.
For companies, the customization runs a different direction. A hand painted scene in your brand colors is straightforward. Your logo is the part that needs care, and it is worth repeating: the logo is never painted freehand. It goes on as a decal floated onto the finished background so the mark keeps its exact shape and color, with aluminum or plastic appliques as options depending on the look and the budget. Branded and bulk pricing is not a web listing, it is a conversation, so that kind of order starts with a call to 303.775.7273. That way the quote matches the actual work instead of a guess.
Built to Take Weather, and Weekends
A snowboard was engineered to get dragged through snow, salt, sun and ice for years, so the raw material was never delicate to begin with. The exterior oil paint and sealer the shop uses are the same idea carried through to the finish, rated for the outdoors, so the piece can live on a covered porch or a deck without falling apart the first winter. Rain, snow and UV are all part of the plan, not a threat to it.
That said, most of these end up inside, and indoors they ask almost nothing of you. Wipe the deck with a damp cloth when it gets dusty, keep it out of a puddle if you can, and it will look the same in ten years as it does the day it arrives. The 300 pound rating means you do not have to treat it gently or warn guests off it. It is furniture, and it acts like furniture, which is more than you can say for a lot of decor built to be looked at rather than used.
It is also light enough to move. That sounds minor until you own one and realize you carry it out to the deck for a barbecue and back in when the weather turns, and it never feels like a project. A bench that is genuinely portable gets used in more places, which is the whole argument for buying one in the first place.
There is a durability point people miss, too. Because the deck is a real snowboard rather than a thin decorative panel, the structural piece of this bench is the part that was already built to survive abuse. You are not trusting a hollow prop to hold weight. You are sitting on a laminated composite deck that spent its first life absorbing landings, wrapped in a frame that adds the legs and the stability. That is a sturdier foundation than a lot of new furniture ships with, and it is the reason the 300 pound rating is a real number rather than a hopeful one.
The Reclaimed Angle, Without the Lecture
Here is the part that matters more every year and gets oversold everywhere else. This bench is made from a real retired snowboard, built in the United States, in Manitou Springs, Colorado, by people rather than a factory line. That is a genuine sustainability story, not a green sticker slapped on an import. A board that would have gone to a landfill becomes a piece of furniture somebody keeps for decades, which is about as close to actual circular design as home goods get.
That story lands hard for the business buyer, and it is why a reclaimed snowboard bench works as a corporate or client gift that does not feel like landfill fodder in six months. Companies chasing real sustainability goals are tired of eco friendly promotional products that are neither, the bamboo pen that breaks, the recycled tote nobody reuses. A piece of upcycled furniture made in America from a real board is the rare gift that matches the value it claims to represent, and it keeps the giver’s name in mind every time someone sits down. If you are sourcing something for a milestone, a client thank you, or a team recognition piece and you want it to carry an honest reclaimed story, that is worth a conversation.
The dry truth is that most sustainable gifting is a stretch. This one is not. The material was headed for the trash, it got a second life, and it will outlast almost anything you could have bought new. You can make the environmental case for it and actually mean it, which is not something you can say about most of the catalog.
How Ordering One Works
The pictured Moose among the Aspens bench runs $495, marked down from $695, and it is one of the shop’s steadier sellers, so it earns its Best Seller tag honestly. If you have been shopping for a snowboard bench for a living room that is built to last rather than to photograph well and fall apart, this is the price to catch it at. Every piece is made to order in Manitou Springs, which means you are not pulling one off a warehouse shelf, you are getting a board painted for you, so give it a little time rather than expecting overnight shipping. It ships nationwide.
If you want the standard version as shown, you can order it straight from the product page. If you want a different animal, a custom palette, a specific board brand, or anything branded for a business, start with a call to 303.775.7273 so the shop can talk through the work and quote it right. There is exactly one number to reach them, and that is it. No phone tree, no offshore call center, just the people who actually build the thing.
You can also browse the rest of the low pieces alongside this one. The benches category has more seating built from real boards and skis, and the broader tables collection covers the coffee tables and low pieces if you are furnishing a whole room rather than filling one wall.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many snowboards does it take to make this bench?
Just one. A single retired snowboard is long enough and strong enough to become the seat and face of a bench, set into a solid wood frame. That is different from a snowboard chair, which needs at least three boards because it has a back, seat and arms to cover. If you have one board that means something to you, that is genuinely enough for a bench.
Is this a real snowboard or a replica?
It is a real retired snowboard, one that was actually ridden and then reclaimed rather than thrown out. Colorado Ski Chairs does not distress a new board to look old, and it does not claim the board came off any particular resort. It is an honest used board given a second life as furniture.
Can I get a different animal or my own colors instead of the moose?
Yes. The moose and aspens are the pictured version, but the scene, the animal and the palette are all customizable, and you can ask about specific board brands too. Color changes and a different critter in the grove start with a call to 303.775.7273.
Can it really be used as a coffee table, or is it just for sitting?
Both. It sits at coffee table height, around 17 inches, is deep enough for drinks, books and a laptop, and carries up to 300 pounds, so it holds people or things equally well. Most owners move it between the living room, the entry and the porch depending on the season.
The Short Version
A good bench is one you actually use, and this one gives you a reason to use it in three rooms. As a snowboard bench for a living room it is one real retired snowboard, hand painted with a moose in the aspens, built on a solid wood frame in Colorado, rated to hold people rather than just look nice. If you have been staring at a wall that is too short for a couch and too long to ignore, or you want a gift with a real reclaimed story behind it, take a look at the Moose among the Aspens Snowboard Bench or call 303.775.7273 to make one your own.
