How to build a mud room bench

OK, so I’m super excited to share this progress with you today! Just know it’s not done yet so there won’t be any perfect after picture just yet – but I’m SO happy with how the bench in the mud room is coming together so I had to share the process so far.
I gathered my materials before this weather hit and spent most of Sunday working on it. I was in a zone and was having a blast. It’s been awhile since I’ve worked on something like this!
The only materials were two wall cabinets and a few 1 by 6’s. Oh, and some scrap wood, but more on that in a bit. Here are the cabinets I used:

These were from Lowe’s but you can find them anywhere – Menards, Home Depot, etc. We have a little “nook” where our washer and dryer used to sit where I am building the bench, so I measured that spot and determined two 30x15x12 cabinets would work.
I think the cabinets were $30-something? The Lowe’s website says $20 and I know I didn’t pay that little. Maybe they were more than $30, I honestly can’t remember. I’ll try to find my receipt and let you know for sure.
Anyway, this isn’t my first rodeo with the cabinets-as-built-ins. I’ll share more links at the bottom of the post, but for now let’s just say this is the fourth time I’ve done this type of thing. I give all credit to my Dad who showed me how to make this happen years ago. :)
I started by flipping the cabinets over and measuring the inside area underneath. I cut down my 1 x 6’s so they made a base:

Does that make sense? This gets the cabinets off the ground. I knew I wanted them about 20 inches off the floor so that’s why I used the 1 x 6 size and the 15 high cabinets. They have 12 inchers too.
I used my nail gun to secure the boards to the sides of the cabinet, all around, then used longer nails in my gun and nailed down the sides of each where they meet in the corners for extra stability. You can add braces in the corners if needed too, but when I was done they weren’t budging a bit so I called it done.
I did that for both cabinets and then started figuring out how to make the bench deeper. You could make it just 12 inches deep from the wall to make it really easy, but I wanted more room for the tushes. (Not that mine needs anymore room…ahem.)
I pulled them away from the wall and hung coats and bags behind me to figure out what was comfortable. I wanted to be able to sit without having the stuff behind me pushing me off. I sat on it and then had hubby do the same so I could figure out a good distance. I determined 20 inches out from the wall was best, so this is where the scrap wood came in:

I went around the wall with scrap wood that I measured at the same exact height as the benches. (I pushed them up against the wall and marked on the wood where to cut.)
I secured each one into studs in the wall. So now, when I get the butcher block that will be the top of the bench, it will rest right on top of those boards (with glue and nails to secure it, plus screws from inside the cabinets) and on the top of the benches as well. I hope that makes sense?
Now it was time to secure the cabinets to the walls. This is where I had to sit in front of all of it for a second and figure out what I was going to do. I knew I’d have about three inches of space left to fill between the cabinets. (Or 1.5 inches on either side if I placed them together in the middle.)
Because I wanted them really secure I went with the space in the middle of the cabinets, so I could install them into the walls. I used long drywall-like screws – these are my favorite with any woodworking project because they grab the wood so easily:

I think installing cabinets is hard. I’ve done it a few times and getting every angle level is a pain in the butt, really. Sometimes it happens fairly easily (our dining room built ins weren’t bad), sometimes it takes forever. I used shims to get these as level as I could and then secured them to the wall into studs:
So these will be used for our shoe storage, if you haven’t figured that out quite yet. ;) It’s not a TON of space so I’ll have to be selective with the shoes we keep down here. In the summer it will be easy with sandals and flip flops. In the winter we’ll have less room to work with with boots and all.
My plan all along has been to make the doors into drawers – I was going to build drawers and install them so we could just pull them out, but I realized I’d lose a lot of space by doing that, so I think we’ll just keep them as is and throw shoes in there:

So anyway, I had that area in the middle of the two cabinets to fill. It just so happened I had a piece of scrap wood that fit in exactly – YES! But I couldn’t figure out how to secure it in there. I couldn’t get my nail gun in between the cabinets to nail at an angle, and the wood had just a smidge of space on the sides so wood glue wasn’t going to hold it well enough. I could have used the long screws through the frames of the cabinets but didn’t want to risk splitting them.

So I sat and stared at it for awhile and came up with an idea. I cut more scrap wood that I nailed into the cabinets (there was a little lip I could nail into – I put arrows to show what I’m talking about) and then just placed my scrap filler piece on top of it:

To give the bench even more stability I added another scrap piece to the back of the bench as well, as you can see above.
THIS is my favorite part of a project like this. I love sitting there and trying to figure out a solution and using what I already have to make it happen. It’s like a puzzle for me and I’m so in my element when I’m doing something like this. Love it!
So this is what it looks like from the front – still a mess but when I’m done with it it will look much better:

If I can’t get it smooth with putty and sanding, I’ll just put some trim over it to hide it.
So that was it for the bench! When it was done I started on finishing up the beadboard around the nook area. I’ve finally found a fool-proof way to get a good cut around my outlets. I’ve always used a jigsaw and still do for some of it, but I can’t cut a straight line with that thing to save my life. So now, I trace around the outlet cover:

Then hold the beadboard up and mark where my cuts will be. like always:

You want the cuts to be under your outlet plate so they aren’t seen.
Then I used the jigsaw for the smaller cuts, but then hold up a straight edge and score the wood with a razor for the longer cut:

I usually do it on both sides of the wood, you don’t have to go that deep. Then I use my wrench to grab the wood and snap it off:

It works EVERY time and gives me a nice, clean cut. It doesn’t have to be perfect since it’s under the plate anyway, but this way is just easier in my opinion. It’s hard to get the jigsaw in there to cut angles.
Like I said, this is still not done, but there’s not really that much left to do (it just looks like it:

I need to get something to use baseboard across the front. What I got is too tall, so I need to either find something that fits or have it cut down. (I still don’t have a table saw so I’m really hoping I can find something.) I need to paint the bench of course, and then I’ll just need to get the butcher block I’m using as the bench seat. Of course the only place I know of to get that is IKEA, and that’s a two hour drive away. Not happening in all of this snow, but I’m hoping I can get over there later this week. I’m SO excited to get this done!
I need to paint the rest of the beadboard now too, but I’m trying to decide what I’ll do. The painted beadboard (instead of white) has given me a bit of a problem – do I do the wall of the bench in white? The bench will be white. Will it look weird having it all the deep color, then in white there? I don’t know what to do, I’ll have to think about it for a bit. That’s what I get for trying to be all different with a color on the beadboard. Hmmm…
Anyway, what looked like this on Saturday:

Looked like this as of Sunday:

Even though the bench is almost done there’s still a lot to do in the room – I need to put spacers in the outlets so they are flush with the beadboard, install the trim around the top of the beadboard, install the upper cabinets and then most likely shelves between them.
But having this part almost done makes me feel like I’m in the home stretch! So excited!
I’ll be sure to update you when I get the bench done. :) Have you attempted this type of project? I had grand plans for awhile but decided in the end but simpler would be better (and easier!).

Paint and floors! (mud room progress)

Well when I said I wanted to get my hands dirty again I meant it. I worked my TAIL off on the mud room yesterday! Seven hours straight – it feels like I’ve barely made a dent and like it looks like a whole new room all at once.

My hand is now a claw from gripping the paint brush so long, but there’s progress!

After I installed the new door trim my next step was to figure out what color to go with on the beadboard in the room. I shared the options I was looking into on Facebook:

I was deciding between a navy blue tone and a more peacock blue color and went with the latter – I’m a little obsessed with that color. I used it as an accent in the powder room, in the basement bathroom and I’ve used it in the living room too. LOVE.

Thing is – painting beadboard is a major pain in the tuckus. Seriously up there with the most tedious jobs ever. I start by using a roller over the whole thing, not worrying about getting into the grooves. Then I take a thick, angled brush and fill in the “beads”:

I use lots of paint, don’t be afraid to lather it on there. You have to go over it a few times to smooth it all out and get any excess paint out. THIS is why I feel like my hand is permanently in the claw shape. ;)

This time, for what I think may be the first time, I painted my trim before I installed it. What WHUT? Yep. I ALWAYS install first, then paint, and I ALWAYS complain about painting after the fact. I still don’t know if I’m sold on the painting before thing. It did make it a little easier – I didn’t have to worry about taping anything off.

But I still had to fill nail holes and touch up paint that I usually don’t have to worry about. Since I used such a deep color, I knew filling the holes would leave a white spot I’d have to paint over a couple times, so I mixed up a bit of my putty with some paint:

That way it matched the wall color better. Even after it dried it was still a little lighter:

I wiped it with a wet rag and then just touched up those small areas. So, the jury’s still out on the paint or install first, at least for me. I think it may be a bit easier to paint first though. Maybe.

So the blue color is called Reflecting Pool by Ralph Lauren. I’ve had an old paint deck for years from when they sold it at Home Depot (I would get it mixed in Behr paint). This time I took it to Sherwin Williams and got it color matched. I do love it but it’s more color than I’m used to, that’s for sure! When I’m in the room it feels deep and pretty. When I’m in another room and walk into the mud room it feels BRIGHT. :) But Lordy…I’m not painting it again for awhile so I’ll get used to it:

I did something a little different this time – usually the white is on the beadboard and the color is on the walls. I wanted to flip it around this time and I really like it! Now I’m not sure the door will stay that color though. It’s always trial and error for me – I just have to figure it out along the way.

It takes me eons to put a room together but that’s because I have to think through every bit of it:

I’ve had half of the walls covered with the beadboard for years, but never finished it up because I was too lazy to move the washer and dryer back in the day:

Next up I need to continue that around to the rest of the room that will be the built in bench and storage:

Those holes are where we had the dryer vent and heavy duty outlet – still don’t think I’ll even cover those with drywall since I’ll be covering it all with beadboard.

Oh I almost forgot about my FAVORITE part! The new floors!! Our flooring guy put them in for a great price again, $300 for labor. Now that I’ve watched him do it a few times I feel like I may be able to do this myself. But they make it seem so easy – they move super fast and just two of them had the floor laid in a couple hours:

I still need to add some trim over by the utility doors – I was more concerned with how they met at the transition piece to the rest of the house than over there. We went with the Jacobean stain and a satin poly like we have on the rest of the main level. After living with hardwoods for a couple years now I would use them in just about any space – even one that gets wet shoes. They’ve held up incredibly well! Any time we’ve ever had water stand on them at all they may cup up a bit but then once they dry out they’re flat again.

You may remember I installed the peel and stick vinyl tiles in here years ago – and they held up OK. Not great, but OK. The “grout” area between the tiles easily discolored, which I didn’t like. And I don’t feel like they’d be great for an area that gets moisture – the water would easily get between them. But the tiles themselves looked pretty darn good, even after years of use. I just didn’t care for the way the the grout areas looked after all this time.

If you had told me a few years ago we’d put hardwoods in both a bathroom and the mud room I would have laughed – but I’m a convert. :)

Next up – finish up the rest of the beadboard (I was waiting to decide on the bench configuration), then figure out the trim that will go around the top of the beadboard: Oh and paint the door trim. :) Yay.

THEN I can start the bench! I’m so excited about that! 

I can’t wait to make more progress in this room – and to create more storage! I’m stoked.

I’m just glad the bright yellow and black is gone:

It served us well but I’m ready for I’m ready for a change!

NOW I’m off to clean my entire house. When we’re all here 24/7 it’s so hard to keep up with it!! I want to start the new year with a clean slate! I’ll be back a couple more times this week, talk with ya later. ;)

Some COLOR in the mud room

Hey all! Thanks for making me feel like a normal person yesterday. I am not alone!!

I’ve been making progress on the mud room lately and I’m getting SO excited about this space. Remember when I painted the room white a few weeks ago? Still love it – but I have started craving just a BIT of color. I haven’t decided on the exact color for the beadboard just yet but I know the direction I’m going.

My plan all along has been to add some color to the door to the garage so I started with that. I may kick myself for it later for doing it before the other color but it came together so well I just couldn’t resist.

And with the trim taken off around the door it was much easier to paint – I could make a little bit of a mess and it would be covered. :)

A year or so ago I started using the back of our door as a command center of sorts – but honestly, it hasn’t worked that great:

I have a small calendar on here that I used to put all our appointments on, but we haven’t used it in a year. I clip coupons on the door thinking I’ll grab them on the way out and I don’t – I ignore them and remember I need them when I’m actually at the store. So there’s that.

I have a smaller version of this in mind down the road for this room, but for now I just took it all down.

Before the smaller calendar I had a larger one and it left a mess on the door:

SO pretty. :)

I started by scrubbing off what I could (most of it didn’t budge) and then cleaned the door really well.

Now, if you’re going to paint a door you want to do one of two things first. Either check to see if it’s oil or latex paint that’s already on there (I explain how to do that here) or you can just prime it.

I usually just prime because it gives you a nice clean surface to start off with anyway. This door is a slick steel door so I knew the paint would do better over a primed surface.

You’ll want a heavy duty primer for the job. I use the little quart sizes I get at True Value:

This stuff is great and is truly odorless – I really don’t smell anything, which is huge for this type of primer! It’s usually really stinky.

I usually have this tinted, just because I’m typically painting a color when I use it. In the past I’ve had it tinted gray and it works great, but I forgot to do that this time.

I did one coat but went over a few spots more than once:

And then it was time to figure out what color to use! I raided my paint stash first to see if I had anything that would work. And I’ll BE, guess what I found? It was (nearly) PERFECT.

I pulled out the rug I’m planning on using in the room (but not as a rug, more on that later) and realized this blue True Value color I already had was just lovely with it:

It’s called Ticker Tape, how cute is that? You can see it in it’s true form (at least on the computer) by searching the name here – so pretty.

You may recognize it from the samples I had painted on my walls for months years:

OK, you probably don’t recognize it because it was painted over the blinding yellow. But it was the color on the left. Or the right? Not sure. I think the left. I was considering it as a color for the whole room years back.

I knew when I started painting it on that it was going to be so pretty:

I would call it a very saturated aqua I guess? Not sure. The more I look at it completed the more it leans blue.

To paint both the primer and the paint on the door I used foam rollers (you can find them here online) and a small, angled brush:

And I use a specific system I told you about here:

It works great!

I was so happy with the paint too, it went on SO well. I even used the brush to paint the raised panels in the door, which I never do (because I can see the paint strokes). I always use the foam roller for those areas.

After the first coat I gave it a quick sanding, just to knock down any texture from the roller. And when I say quick sanding, I mean like two minutes and done. I hate sanding. I only had to do one more coat after that, so two total, which is impressive for a color over white.

I wanted the door to be fun and colorful and it is!: 

Oh yeah, there’s the spray painted knob I told you about. :)

It’s not an exact match to that rug but it’s close enough, and they won’t be right next to each other anyway:

I was going to wait until the new floors are installed to do the door trim, but that got pushed back to later this month so my zero patience won out and I installed it all:

I made a few minor changes to how I do the DIY craftsman trim around the doors which I’ll tell you more about soon. OHHHMG. Love them.

Here’s the before and after over the utility closet:

It all needs about four coats of paint (oh happy day!) but it’s a step in the right direction.

I also started continuing the beadboard on that door wall:

I didn’t go too far with it because I’m deciding on the bench dimensions first.

The room still looks like a bit of hot mess right now but it’s getting there – I always like to share the process along the way because man, it takes time to do this stuff! It sure doesn’t happen overnight.

I should just make a to do list for this room and knock them off on here, right? But so far I’ve pulled down all the trim and installed new stuff, painted the walls and now the door. Next up will be the flooring, finishing the beadboard, more trim, then the part I’m most excited about – building a wall of built ins and a bench! It won’t be done till next year but it’s coming along.

Do you love a painted door? You know I love the black doors and that’s on my to do list elsewhere in the house. I do like having one that’s more fun and playful and the mud room is a great spot for it.

 

I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own, I would have done this project anyway and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.

My daring new paint color

Hello all! How is your week going? It’s going to get downright chilly around here starting tomorrow – it’s been absolutely beautiful here in Indiana lately!

I mentioned in passing last week that I’ve FINALLY started work on the mud room redo. It’s been a long time coming! Even though I’ve been SO ready to makeover this space, it’s a little bittersweet since this was the first redo I ever shared on my blog. (Oddly enough, almost exactly five years ago.) Sniff.

Back then the yellow and black was fun and different and wow…BRIGHT. I dug it. But when we moved the washer and dryer downstairs last year this room became a dedicated mudroom (halleluiah!) and I grew tired of the in yo face yellow.

I’m now on a mission to transform this into a more functional space. So I started with some paint and trim removal. Since I was painting I went ahead and removed the trim I had installed along the top – it’s going anyway:

Ignore the paint samples that have been up for three years. :) And wow, the yellow looks neon in these pics. It wasn’t THAT bright.

I also removed the trim around both doors in the room and the random piece that was above the utility closet:

That one strip of trim has always made me shake my head. Just one across the top – so sad and lonely.

To remove the trim I scored the caulked areas first and then used a small pry bar to pull it off:

 

My Dad gave me that little one awhile back and I use it all the time. I have a larger pry bar for bigger jobs too, but this tiny one works great for stuff like this.

The next phase was twofold – we had someone come in and remove a few things that I just couldn’t. We took out the big 220 volt plug for the dryer (but left the electrical in case we ever sell and the homeowners want to move everything back up), removed the dryer vent (just the part sticking out of the wall) and turned the gas nozzle that went to the dryer so it wasn’t sticking out of the wall anymore. (That line is no longer working, it was removed and run to our dryer in the basement instead.) All this had to be done so I can eventually build the built ins right there.

And yes, we had the 220 volt and a gas line – the builder installed the electrical not realizing we were doing gas everywhere (they did the same for the stove that was supposed to be gas.) I realized the mistake early enough that it wasn’t a big deal, but we ended up with a big plug we didn’t need. Another reason you need to be on-site as much as possible when building!

Anyway…they took care of all of that stuff that was over my head and then I was able to paint! I think you may be surprised with my color choice – I’ve had it in mind for awhile and I am already really excited about it.

Are you ready for this??

I went WHITE: 

;) Dramatic I KNOW. And no it’s not primer, the walls will be white. Bear with me for a minute. And those holes in the walls will be covered, so ignore.

I decided a long time ago that I wanted to do a little something different in here – instead of white on the beadboard (which is staying) and color on the walls, I wanted to flip it. So the color will be on the beadboard, and then art on the walls. I’m REALLY excited about it.

I used a Dutch Boy color called Stone Arrowhead that I picked up at True Value. The location I visit has a HUGE paint selection:

I used the Dutch Boy before to paint my office ceiling and was really pleased with it. Covering the yellow took a couple coats which didn’t surprise me – it was a saturated color.

Here’s the thing – EVERY white I’ve ever used in my house has been an off-the-shelf white. Every single one. People ask what the color white I use and I’m all…uhhh, white? :) Just go to the paint aisle and pick up a can of whatever finish you need (just make sure it’s not one that needs to be tinted, it will say on the can.)

This time I didn’t want it to be pure white – I wanted a little depth to it. This Stone color has definite gray undertones (but it’s not “dirty” look – it’s a bright color) that will work well with the new color for the beadboard. I hope anyway. ;)

I’m already so thrilled with the change I can’t even tell you. It felt SO GOOD to cover up the yellow. :) It’s so bright and clean looking!:

You can see here how only half of the room has beadboard. When I installed it the washer and dryer were still there and I was too lazy to move them. So five years later I’m going to finish it up.

And yes, I painted the whole room – even the spots that will eventually be covered up, just because I wanted a really clean slate for awhile. It’s been a mess of black, yellow and white for years now (I never painted behind the w/d either):

It’s how I do. ;)

Check out the difference!

HUGE right? I seriously love it. I’ll be ready for color soon I know, but for now I’m so totally happy with it. (And check out how small our little Nya kitty was in the before and Colby is the same size in the after.)

I had to share a little thing I had the electrician do – he added an outlet up higher on the wall so I’ll be able to keep the dust buster plugged in and out of the way:

It will eventually sit on either a shelf or in a cabinet – haven’t decided just yet. But it will be awesome to be able to charge stuff up there. It’s the little things right??

It’s just the start but my vision is finally starting to come together. I can’t wait to keep moving in this space! Next up will be new flooring, installing the new trim around all the doors, and then finishing up the beadboard. Then I start building. YAY!

Have you ever painted a room white? Could you do it? I was surprised at how much I liked it, but I know I’ll need color back soon enough.

I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own, I would have done this project anyway and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.

For more painting tips, take a look at True Value’s site here!