Thanks to The Lettered Cottage’s tour of mudrooms today, I interrupt our regularly scheduled programming (renovation of our living room), to bring you my most sought after tutorial. The mudroom bench (and coat rack)!
Welcome! If you are a friend, you know that all our friends and family enter through our mudroom. This door is the closest to our driveway. Only the door-to-door salesmen go to our front door.
Make one of your own! Tutorial here.
And no, I didn’t have any help from my husband. I am the handywoman of our home.
I’ll give you a little background about how this bench came to be. I really loved having a mudroom to begin with. But, the piles of shoes and coats that accumulated behind the door were making me nuts! Who knew that a flip flop could double as a door stop, not allowing me to enter my own house!
My son tried to help out by piling all the shoes on top of the coat rack. Better, right?!
Sure, I could have hopped over to Pottery Barn and bought a mudroom bench and shelf, but I balked at the price tag. So, I continued to ponder a solution. I dreamed of having a perfect storage solution to streamline my mornings of getting two little boys out the door to preschool. A bench to perch the kids on while putting on their shoes. (A task I know someday I will miss doing, but for now I can’t wait for them to learn to tie their own shoes.) Everyone’s socks and shoes would be at hand but not in the way. And a place for every jacket, book bag, and hat. The final product was beyond my dreams. I love it more than any other piece of furniture in my house. It is my sanity saver!
My dreams began to form when I stumbled across some kitchen wall cabinets on clearance at Lowe’s. These are the short cabinets that mount over your fridge. They were marked down to $45 each.
The wheels in my brain began to turn. I started to see how I could use these cabinets to solve our shoe dilemma.
I bought some lumber. I also had some salvage pieces that had been collecting dust in our attic. An old door with recessed panels, four ornate old coffee table legs, and some shelf brackets from a yard sale.
After a few days of distressing and staining boards, cutting lumber, rounding some edges, hammering, nailing, driving screws and sweating, this is what I ended up with!
And, the tutorial for the coat rack is here!
If you are intrigued as to how I constructed this bench – keep reading. If not, thanks for stopping by. I hope you will come back again soon.
Here is the abbreviated tutorial:
I flipped the bench on its back to show you the base construction:
Next a back view of the bench:
The coat rack is made from an old door, antique hooks, and yard sale shelves.
Coat rack tutorial is here!
Brittany,
You are amazing and this is terrific! I'm passing this on to my kids who are suffering from shoe build up at their homes! Thanks…
This is absolutely fabulous. It is so creative and looks wonderful. Super storage and it's beautiful too. What a great creatie solution to a problem. Hugs, Marty
you amaze me with your talent! i wish i could be as handy as you…. my hubs is not handy either! its awsome!
This is so great! Makes me wish I had a mudroom. I love how it turned out and the creativity involved.
I've had a wonderful time looking through several posts today. This is just brilliant. I especially like the brackets as side pieces.
What a gorgeous AND functional mudroom!
Those legs are SCRUMPTIOUS and look like they were meant to be there! The dark stain is perfect, and of course I'm a fan of anything that didn't have boy help (something I never get either).
(not that I'm complaining)
(because I've seen my hubby's "work")
Linked over from the Lettered Cottage
WOW. How beautiful! Great tutorial too. Your handiwork is inspiring!
Socks with shoes. Now why didn't I think of that?
I've always thought you were amazing–but now seeing how you put this together–I am even MORE AMAZED!! You are the woman!
"Pretty handy" is an understatement. I'm WAY impressed!!
oh my gosh I love that!!! i have been rying to figure out how to make one forever!!!
You WOW me!!!!
Love it! Great tutorial!
That bench is fabulous! You did a great job of taking hardware store stuff and making it look original and custom. I am completely impressed! Lisa~
Love your mudroom bench! Your tutorial deserves an A++++. As a kitchen designer I can say you did an outstanding job! I have designed many a mud room bench/locker, etc. and I just use cabinets and other cabinet accessories to create them. The same goes for custom range hoods! You have discovered our secret!!! Great job!
What a great idea! I wish I had something like that for a mudroom!!
Please come and join my link party!
All About The Boy @ The Nifty Nest!
Liz
This is fabulous! And what a great tutorial! :]
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this! Will you make one for me???
I'm having a Target giveaway at my blog! Love it if you could stop by. alittleknickknack.blogspot.com
This is beyond awesome. Great job:)
Holy Cow, you're a rockstar! Do you just love power tools? Fantastic job!
Your newest follower, Cathy
That is insane…and overwhelming haha! How about you just make it for me and I'll pay ya ha!
Great job. And such a great detailed tutorial!
WOW!!! Amazing!! Very creative + a fabulous job!!
Great tutorial.. My 1st time here, but I'll be back…
You are an inspiration!!
This is wonderful! I soooo want one. Gonna have to show this to my Hubs, because I myself am not quite that handy. But HE is! LOL Thanks for the wonderful tutorial. I'm visiting from All Thingz Related.
Not only intrigued, I am extremely impressed! That is AWESOME…you are really good, and should be very proud of your work!
That is GORGEOUS. Love it. Love it. Love it.
ok so we tackled our first big project and im feeling a little more comfortable now. Still have to paint but I also found a great website that is a cheaters… I mean beginers/idiots guide to building a bench. I'm ready to tackle my next project!
wow, this is truly amazing, you are so talented!!
AMAZING!!! You are a creative genius woman. I love all the slavaged materials you used to construct this piece. Everything about it is fantastic. Great job! Thanks for linking up with us over at The CSI Project.
~Amanda
First of all, amazing blog. I'm blown away by the both of you.
Second, can you please make sure your husband checks his FB message. My phone is inoperable. I was trying to steal him away for much of the afternoon Sunday, and it turns out it won't be possible. Sorry for the hassle. You are both missed.
-Marble
This is awsome!!! Beautiful and functional. I would love to have room for one of these in my laundry, but alas there isn't…guess I will just admire yours! Thanks for sharing!
You are so amazing. I want this mudroom storage for my house. Thank you so much for linking you awesome project to my upcycled awesome linky party.
Wow, This is absolutely fabulous! How creative you are to use the shelf brackets for the back rest. Love it! Hugs, Sherry
I love your project and most of all admire you for taking on something like this. Great job.
-Rene
You totally rock! Can we all say GIRL POWER! Amazing!
Gosh, your project was so creative! Nice job!
I wanted to let you know about Atticmag's new linky party – Giveaway Friday! It's a convenient place for bloggers to link their giveaways each week. We've kicked it off with a fantastic giveaway of our own. Five lucky winners will win material to do a backsplash in their homes. Hope to see you there!
Allison
Atticmag
Just hopped over from Debbiedoos! This is really a fabulous project~ very creative and well done! Thanks for sharing!
All I can say is WOW-that turned out GREAT!
It's beautiful! We are so glad you joined us for Anything Related! Come back tomorrow for another great party!
I'd give my eye teeth for a mud room that size. the bench and coat rack are stunning. You are definitely very talented.
What a fabulous bench! Kudos to you!
Oh wow!! What a very very cool bench! You are awesome!
I am blow away by this project!! It looks like something that would cost thousands at Pottery Barn or Ballards or the like. It's one of my great desires and something I don't have in the house we're in now is an entry way or mud room, but when I do, you better believe I'll be referring back to yours for inspiration! Awesome!
Phenomenal! I love the way you used materials from several different sources. Be proud!
LOVE this one! We have a less fantastic version of this in our hallway and could have used this tutorial beforehand – what a beautiful work of (furniture) art – and it's practical!!! You are masterful.
TOTALLY CHIC!! Love the mudroom!
that is incredible that is gorgeous! you are amazing. !!!
I love this idea. If only I had a mudroom I would definitely try it.
http://www.mysouthernlife.blogspot.com
Love all your wonderful projects, Brittany!!! Hope that you, Link and the boys are doing well!
Wow! This is so cool!! Really great job making that bench!!
NO WAY! I was just thinking today about how I desperately need to make/buy one of these. Thank you so much for sharing this. Very, very cool that you made this all by your pretty (handy) little self.
You rock ! And, your being bookmarked!! This bench and hook system is what I have been trying to brainstorm myself … thank you so much for doing such an amazing tutorial
))
LOVE IT !!! I fancy myself pretty handy, but have definitely raised the bar!
I was searching for ideas to build a shoe and coat rack for my son and came across this. Awesome job! I don’t need one this big but I am going to use your idea as a basis for my project. Thanks for posting!!
[...] started planning out the storage bench and coat rack at the same time. The coat rack was definitely the less involved project. Below is a [...]
Love, love,love the coat rack and bench and my handy husband has agreed to tackle the project. What are the final dimensions for the coat rack and the bench? They seem huge but huge is what we need – we need as much storage as we can get.
Thanks.
Conessa
[...] #17 – Mudroom Bench @ Pretty Handy Girl [...]
Super Duper Awesome!!!
I need to do something similar to this for window seat/storage shelving. Amazing tutorial!!!
Your tutorials are always great here! I linked this one to my mudrooms and entryways post today – I really liked how your project turned out!
I love your blog, I am new to the DIY scene and will be tackling the staining of my kitchen cabinets next month. From what I noticed the sides of those cabinets don’t seem to be real wood and might be what you mentioned on here (either fiberboard ends or veneer ends) and they don’t look or feel like they can be sanded down and stained. So I guess my question is how do I tackle that, can I just buy veneer end caps that match my stain?? Did you buy your veneer end caps at home depot?
[...] know our mudroom bench and coat rack is the workhorse of our [...]
This is exactly what I have been trying to create – in my head! It is amazing and I thank you for sharing how you did it!
Such a cute idea. I love the legs and shoe storage. It looks easy too.
That is FANTASTIC! I’ve been looking for a free or really cheap cabinet to build a shoe bench, and I love that I just stumbled upon your bench and tutorial. Your explanations are fantastic! I really love how your bench turned out.
[...] Children’s Sunny Safari Storage BenchBedroom Furniture N MoreStep2 Outdoor Storage BenchMudroom Tour and Building a Shoe Storage Bench function elcRot13(text){ return text.replace(/[a-zA-Z]/g, function(c){ return [...]
Awesome work!! It’s great to see womenfolk getting their hands involved in typical “mans domain” type work! That said, get a good countersink/pilot hole drill bit from lowes and some torx bit type outdoor screws from their or home depot. The philips head or even the #2 square drive screws like to cause the bit to jump more than torx and screw everything together rather than nails. Screws don’t loosed up and cause wood to squeak and wobble as much imo. I just couldn’t bring myself away after I started reading this tutorial and the superb pictures that no guy would EVER think to do to make others understand the process fully! I’m off to try and find some kind of shoe rack for the garage entryway that’s more utilitarian than what you have created.
You inspired me and we did it with my mom.
not the exact same – we built all from scratch.
Thanks
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150419074858679&set=a.10150419074793679.379246.729008678&type=1&theater
[...] are able to to be a favorite at your residence. [singlepic id=231 w=400 h=300 float=] get it here[singlepic id=230 w=400 h=300 float=] Our Delfino Storage Bench is definitely one of the many…framing and foam padding for comfort and support. Home Decorators Collection gives a big range of [...]
[...] Throwing a chain at wood gives you those elliptical dents. Dragging the sharp edges of a pry bar across wood will give it some deep grooves. Finally a few random hammer marks here and there finish off the worn look. This is the exact same technique I used on the mudroom bench. [...]
[...] mudroom to spray paint one piece of threshold brushed nickel. Okay, call me crazy, but I was on a mission [...]