DIY Mudroom Reveal!

DIY Mudroom Reveal!

Have I ever told you about the closet just off from our foyer?

The one that had the plastic shutter doors with the knobs that had little kids sitting by the beach on them?

And did I ever mention how much those cheap doors that collected dust and always jammed annoyed me?

No?

Well, they did.

A lot!

And that funky rooster wallpaper that covered the back of the closet?

Oh my…so not my style.

But a beautiful, clean, spacious, full of storage, farmhouse style mudroom bench?

Oh yes, that was definitely my style.

I dreamed of just such a bench for the longest time.

A bench that my sweet little grandson could sit on to take off his boots.

One where friends and family could hang their coats without fighting with those darn shutter doors.

Hubby despised that nasty closet just as much as I did, but let’s just say he needed a ‘little’ shove in the right direction when it came to how to replace them.

Unfortunately, we were both so excited to get the project started that I forgot to take a ‘before’ photo of that horrible closet. My bad. 🙁

But I did capture the disastrous mess that was behind the drop-down ceiling, trim, and closet.

And what about that fancy wallpaper?  I know. You’re probably thinking, ‘but wallpaper is back in style.’

Trust me. Not this wallpaper. Nor the layer of checkerboard wallpaper or floral wallpaper that was on the opposite wall.

So back to that bench!

Let’s start with the material we used.

Drywall

8-1″x4″x8

1×8

1×12

3/4″ plywood

beadboard

finishing nails

wood glue

16 gauge nail gun

Primer

Paint

Wood Filler

Hooks (black)

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One: We drywalled the entire space.

***Tip: When you are drywalling an entire room start with the ceiling and work your way down. We usually use a drywall jack (so much easier) but since this was such a small space I assisted hubby in holding the drywall up until he was able to screw the edges in. Just an FYI- drywall is heavy!

(**I apologize that some of the photos are a bit grainy. There isn’t a lot of natural light in this space: IE poor quality photos.)

 

 

Two: Tape, Mud, and Sand all of the seams.

Three: Install new 1″x4″ trim around the door and ceiling.

Four: Build the framework for the bench.

The measurements for our bench are 18 1/2″ off the floor, 70″ long and 16″ deep.

Each of the three storage cubby’s was 18″ wide.

The frame of the bench was made with 3/4″plywood and trimmed out with 1″ pine. Wood glue and a 16 gauge finish nailer were used to put the base together.

Five: Since I wanted the farmhouse look that I LOVE so dearly, we chose unfinished beadboard (plywood) for the back wall and used 1×4 pine for the verticle pieces of the board and batten and 1 x 8 for the horizontal.

Six: I also wanted a shelf so I could add a few ‘homey’ accessories or extra baskets, so hubby built one with a  1″x12″ piece of pine.

Seven: Fill in all the many, many, many holes, dings, and whatever other blemishes in the wood with wood filler.

Eight: Paint the entire space with one coat of Zinsser Bullseye Primer.  Let this dry overnight.

Nine: Because this small space has very little natural light I decided to paint the entire space with Behr Ultra Pure White paint. This is what it looked like after one coat!

It ended up taking two coats with a few touch-ups here and there.

Let me just say all the hard work was SOOOO worth it!!

Everything in this space is so much brighter!

We have SO much more usable storage space!

Oh, and of course my little grandson, (and me), have a bench to sit down on to put our boots or shoes on. How wonderful is that?

It is definitely a dream come true!

If you have any questions about this project or any of our projects, just leave me a comment or send me an email!

Happy Thursday ya’ all!

Blessings and hugs,