The Mudroom Project is just about finished and it’s amazing how much of an impact such a small project makes in our rear entry. Even B, who wasn’t fully on board with the idea has really come to love how functional this space is and how much more welcoming our back entrance is now.
You can read more about my plans for the mudroom and laundry area here and I’m excited to share that after one good day of progress, the space is nearly complete. Before I share the final reveal with you, I wanted to give you a little step-by-step of how I tackled this project all by myself and for less than $200.
This all started with measuring how large my bench area could be. This tiny room houses both our laundry area and is the main exit out the back of our house. It’s tight and I didn’t want the bench to feel too large or take up too much space in the laundry area.
Once I had an idea of how large my bench could be, I decided that instead of building the bench fully from scratch, I’d modify a cube shelf instead. I really wanted to keep my costs down and we really wont be sitting back there. Since I have a few other variations of the Better Homes and Gardens Cube Shelves and am happy with them for what they are, I decided to go with the three cube shelf for this project. For less than $40, this simple bookshelf gave me my main structure for this project. The maximum weight for this shelf is 130lb so be aware of weight if you plan to do a similar project.
The shelf took about 30 minutes to assemble and I did it by myself. It was super simple to do and the shelf is pretty lightweight to I found this step to be pretty easy. Once I had my bookshelf assembled I put it into place to start planning the rest of the project.
While I like the cube shelves, I really wanted my bench area to have a more “custom” look so I began taking some measurements. I measured a bottom and two side rails for the wall above the bench and I measured for the top board which is where the hooks would be installed.
I also measured the top of the bench so that I could add a wooden top and a platform for the shelf to sit on so that it is not directly on the floor. With my measurements I was able to figure out how much wood I would need.
The wood for this project at our local lumber yard cost $31.00. I bought pine 1xs in various widths from 4” to 10” based on the design I had created.
From all of our recent home projects we have a large supply of scraps in our garage so I was able to use scraps for the base the shelf / bench sits on. This is made of 1 x 2 boards and the frame is screwed to the bottom of the bench using “L” brackets.
The top of the bench was by far the most difficult but even then not too hard. I took lengths from the boards that I bought and used a biscuit joiner to connect them together to make the bench top. I can go into more detail on how I did this in a future post if you are interested.
Once the top was glued, set and sanded, I used stain that I had left over from another project to give the pine a slightly weathered, grey wash. I used “Weathered Oak” but I will say that the look on the pine boards is a little yellow. I am going to look into a warmer / richer color to add another coat and maybe give the top a little more contrast.
The bench was put into place and I used more “L” brackets to secure the bench to the wall behind. Next I primed and painted the boards I cut for the wall behind the bench and once dry, I nailed them to the wall.
The top board, where the hooks will be installed was screwed to the walls into the studs. This board will have the weight of the hooks so this one really needs to be secure. Once the boards were in place, I used wood putty to fill in the nail and screw holes and once dry I sanded and painted over the holes.
I also painted the area inside the boards above the bench to match the trim color (white). Now that it’s all done, I feel like it needs a rail down the center so I plan on using some scrap wood to cut the center rail.
Finally, I added trim boards around the base of the bench to cover up the pedestal / base that the bench sits on. This simple step helped give the bench a more custom or built-in look and it was using wood scraps that we had already which meant it didn’t cost me anything.
Once all the boards were in place, I measured the space inside the rails of the top board to work out spacing for my hooks. This was just some simple math and the hooks were very easy to screw into place.
Aside from the center rail that needs to be added, the only things left to do are sanding and touching up the nail holes on the trim around the bottom of the bench and then add the shelf and brackets above the hooks.
So far this project has been super fun and easy for me to tackle on my own and I love the impact it has made already. I can’t wait to finish up this project and share the final result with you.
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