Every now and then I take a look around my house and find an eyesore. This one in particular was located at my daily entrance and exit, my mudroom. Admittedly, this has been bothering me for far too long. A picture fell down in there like 6 months ago and had been just propped up on its side against a wall. There were tons of shoes including boots we only wear in the dead of winter (it’s May, people!) and the bench that I had in there was just too small for the space (I actually moved it to our foyer and it looks so much better in an open space where it can be appreciated for the antique beauty that it is.)

I trekked out to IKEA to see if they had any good mudroom solutions, but came up empty handed. My husband and I decided I could totally make something custom to fit the space for way less than I would spend on something at IKEA anyway. So I went home and sketched something up and decided I would go to Home Depot that following morning while he stayed home with our son.

I picked up a pair of 2x4’s (actually, I totally only got one and had to make a second trip back to purchase a second one, which is not easy to do with a 2 month old,) and two 1x8x8 boards. I cut the 1x8’s down to 86 inches a piece, which is close to the length of the mudroom. With the 2x4’s I created three rectangles for support. The rectangles were created using two 8 inch pieces and two 16 inch pieces. I arranged the rectangles equal distance apart and attached them to the 1x8’s. After everything was sanded down and smooth, I stained the bench with “special walnut” and sealed it with a satin polycrilic finish.

Materials needed:

1. Two 2x4’s

2. Two 1x8x8 common boards

3. 2 1/2 inch wood screws

4. 2 inch wood screws

5. Miter Saw

6. Hand Sander / sanding block

7. Wood stain

8. Polycrilic finish

For more detail and a visual representation of this project, check out my project vlog below where I take you along for the creation and execution of this fun and easy project,.