Project: Mudroom Bench

Hello friends! I'm so excited to show you the project that Kevin and I finished a few weeks ago.  When we built our home, there was a perfect space for a mudroom bench and lockers right by the door to the garage.  To have the builder put it in would have cost $1600 and it wasn't exactly what we wanted.  So Kevin and I decided to just build it ourselves eventually.  In the mean time we put our Ikea Shoe Cabinet and Coat Rack there which worked really well.  But, on New Years Day, we decided to build the bench.

We first emptied the space.  We actually moved the shoe cabinet by the front door and the coat rack in the office (also by the front door).  

Kevin used a crowbar and hammer to remove the trim around the floor.  Then I cleaned the floors and walls to prepare the space for the construction.

Kevin put down some liquid nails before putting in place the bench we had built on in the shop.

The bench was built with 3/4" fiberboard.  We measured the space and equally spaced 18" by 18" dividers between the top and bottom.

We then added side panels and the top shelf.

We added support by putting moulding under the top shelf and then added molding on the back and sides for another shelf.

We then added trim to the outside of the shelves, sides, and bench as well as adding the large board (for the hooks and trim above the bench seat.  The seat is a piece of pine we stained before putting it in place. It actually wasn't as dark as I wanted it to be, so we added a few more coats later.

We then added a piece of trim at the top to make it look like a piece of furniture and also added more vertical trim pieces to add character.  We then puttied all of the nail holes and caulked the entire thing.

The next day, I primed the entire thing and then the day after that painted it.  A few more coats of stain were put on the bench and then a couple of coats of polyurethane to add shine and protect it.

Kevin added 9 hooks evenly spaced.

And it was finished and beautiful!  I will be adding baskets below for shoes and above to store our winter gear.  I would eventually like to add cabinet doors above so that I can store off season gear (like beach towels) and they will be hidden.

Having lived with this for a few weeks, I absolutely adore it! It is so helpful to have a place to keep shoes, coats, backpacks, and winter gear.  The kids love it too.

Updated on the bench and what it looks now, with bins for shoes and winter gear.

Do you have a mudroom bench?  Send me a picture or a link, I would love to see it!  You can see more ideas for mudroom storage on my pinterest page.