One of the things my wife has been after me about since we moved in last year was to get our Mudroom storage built. The room itself was nice enough, but outside of a few hooks I put up when we moved in, it's kind of been a mini disaster area since.
The trim was there, though pictured above I had removed it. However that blue tape outlining where she wanted the storage has literally been there for 10 months. Wish I were joking but sadly not. It was not fun getting it off the floor. The basic dimensions and design were done by my wife, though some adjustments had to be made owing to the fact that *nothing* is square, level, or even in a wood built home. It all varies by +- 1/4". Not that they did a bad job building my house, its just how it is. (especially in corners and edges of floors).
The first thing to do was to get a good structure in place for everything to attach to. I cut 2 pieces of plywood (3/4" birch) 18" tall and got them in. This was a dry fit that would come back to bite me later unfortunately.
Next I cut 3 more pieces and for the most part everything fit pretty well. You can see in the lower right hand corner where there was a bit of the gap due to the way the wall was. This ended up becoming more of an issue...
Next I drilled countersunk holes in the pieces that were against the walls where the studs were and screwed them in. This cause the entire thing to go closer to the studs as there was some give in the drywall that you could tell just from sight or measuring. This ultimately resulted in the front piece of wood being about 3/8" too short. I split the difference and secured it. Incidentally this was the first project I got to use my Kreg jig. I love it. Super easy to use and makes great looking joins.
Next up putting in the shelf and a support in case someone decides that the shoe rack is a bench. (it's not, but kids...) I also had forgotten to put joint holes for screwing down the top, so got that done as well.
I got it all together and showed my wife and she reminded me that the corners should be smooth. (duh). Took it all apart, routed the edges, and sanded it so that they were smooth. Screwed the top down and a shelf is born.
Next I lined the inside of the bench with cedar planking. This area will be for storing winter coats in the summer and summer jackets in the winter. Since the mudroom also has a cat box in it, I wanted those coats to stay smelling good. I love the smell of cedar. Used an 18ga Porter Cable brad nailer which I picked up specifically for this project. Figured I was going to need it to do the trim too.
Next I took a 12" piece of 1" poplar and cut it down and joined 2 pieces using the Kreg. Also put in a couple of supports on the bottom as well. There is a slight offset of its thickness as compared to the plywood. Unfortunately I didn't realize this until it was too late and there isn't a good way to even it out. Such is the way of things.
Next I put a coat of cherry colored stain. Not a super great lighting here, but it looks nice.
Cut and installed most of the trim. Still need to get something for the corner where the bench meets the wall. The stuff I have simply doesn't look good there. Also filled in all the holes and prepped it for painting. The bench top is just sitting there for now.
Got the trim up and the first coat of paint on it. Still will need 1 more coat. I'm not being particularly careful with the wall in terms of paint. It has so many dings and scratches from the last year and this project that it needs to be painted entirely anyway.
Also added a small support 2x4 on the left side of the bench. The brackets I got are pretty hefty and are thicker than the 3/4" plywood. It turns out I can't measure and the 2x4 still wasn't enough to do the entire bracket, but it was enough to do the part that I needed. Getting the bench top to line up just right and sit just right was a real pain, but it came out pretty good.
And with that, the first part of the mudroom is complete.
Next up when the heat dies down again (heat index when I got off work today was 104, so no) is to do the shelving above and to move around the hooks some. Hopefully I'll get to do that in the next couple of weeks.
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