Mudroom Coat rack Bench

Hi all! I know, it’s been a LONG time since I put together a blog post, and I apologize….life is just nutty sometimes and I needed a break…..I’m sure you know what I mean.  :0)

I thought you all might like to see a project I did a few months ago that I absolutely LOVE! It’s a mudroom coat rack/bench. You remember the old 1916 house that was torn down?  The one I took the old bank of drawers from to make my window seat? Well, I salvaged quite a few old doors from there as well. I decided this would be a fun way to use those doors! Here’s what I made!….

It looks a lot more complicated than it was, I promise!  :0)

My doors were 48” wide when butted up against each other, but you can see in the pic they have little strips of wood on each side that ended up making them 49”. I wanted to keep the hinges, but didn’t really want to see anything but the pretty part, so I used that trim to cover them up.  (more on that later)

To make the base I purchased a 4 x 8 sheet of MDF (medium density fiberboard) and three 8’ long 2 x 4’s.  (the 4 x 8 sheets are actually 49” wide)
I cut two of the 2 x 4’s to 49” long and then cut three pieces 15” long….two for the ends and one for a center brace. My finished piece is 18” deep, the standard depth for a bench. I used some wood glue and my nail gun to nail it all together.  I then cut a top for my base piece..again, 49” wide x 18” deep.

See how my side pieces are on the INSIDE of my two longer outer pieces. You want to build it like this for strength.

I made sure to check the fit of the MDF piece by laying it on top of the base and checking on all sides, this will become your bottom piece to your actual bench. (where the little baskets slide in)  Don’t attach this to the base yet.

To build the actual bench part of the unit, I cut one more 49” x 18” piece of MDF  for the top piece of the bench, and two pieces for the sides that were 18” deep x 14” high.  I also cut two pieces that will be used for the center braces, and they were 18” deep x 13” high.

You assemble your bench like below using wood glue and a nail gun.

I cut a scrap piece of trim to 15 1/4” and used it to make sure my brace pieces where exactly the same distance apart from each other, like this….

and this……

then I used wood glue and my nail gun to assemble it together.

I drew a line across the top where I was going to be nailing into the braces underneath, so I knew where to nail. I didn’t want to split out the piece of MDF bracing….

Then it was easy to just follow along that line and nail without worrying about splitting out my braces…

After it was all glued and assembled, I attached it to the 2 x 4 base I had built earlier with glue and my nail gun.

Then I trimmed it out with some baseboard molding I had laying around the garage….

Next I moved onto the doors. I basically laid them out flat on two saw horses and gave them a good sanding.

After they were thoroughly sanded, I used mending plates to attach them together on the back where it would never be seen.  I forgot to take a picture of this part, but basically this is a mending plate, and you just lay it across the two doors and screw it in to make the two doors as one.

Next I moved onto the shelving unit at the top of the piece. I had some extra lumber from other projects, and I used it to make the shelving part.  I cut a piece of pine lumber 49” long x 5” wide. It’s the piece that will lay flat against the doors. (it’s the piece laying flat on the carpet in the pic) The top piece is MDF, and I cut it 49” long x 9” deep. It sits on top of the other piece and is glued and screwed from the top. I used screws on this piece cause you’re never going to see the top and I wanted it to be extra sturdy. I didn’t attach the corbels to the shelf at this point because I attached the shelf to the doors with screws under where the corbels are sitting so you won’t see the screws.

Before I attached the shelf to the doors, I installed some pieces of wood to the sides of my doors to hide where the hinges will go.    It was 1/2” thick x the depth of my door, which happened to be 1 3/4” thick.  I used wood glue and my nail gun to attach those pieces.  I took the hinges apart, and only used the pretty part with the rounded brass tops, and pounded them down into the openings. I only did it on the two top openings, because the bottom holes will be covered by the bench.

Sorry, I got a little lazy about taking pictures and forgot to show you under the corbels where I screwed them to the doors. I’m sure you can envision the shelf screwed on under the corbels.  I then used the existing holes that came in my corbels to screw those to the doors and upper shelf. I filled them with wood filler and sanded it off.  (you can see the wood filler on the fronts of the corbels if you look closely) You can also see in this picture, that I trimmed the shelf out with some trim I also had on hand.  What I don’t show in this pic, but you can see in the final pics, is that I added some crown molding between each corbel.

At this point, I trimmed out the bench around the top, and also down the front of the brace pieces with some trim. I was also a little antsy and couldn’t wait to see how my baskets were going to look. I got those adorable baskets at Walmart! They are from the Better Homes and Gardens collection and were only $9.97 each! I’m showing you in this picture how I’ll be pushing the bench up against the doors…….I couldn’t attach mine until I got it in the house because it would’ve been too big to go in my front door.  (it looks like it’s not the same width in this picture, but it really is..it’s just where I still had it pulled out in the floor a little bit)

Here it is inside the house and all screwed together. I basically pushed the bench up against the doors, and pre-drilled from the back into the 2 x 4’s I built the bases out of and used REALLY long screws to screw it into place. I also used some L brackets and attached it on the inside top of the bench where you can’t see it, and screwed them into the doors and inside the back of the bench.

Then I pretty much just added a couple of hooks for coats etc, and primed and painted! (oh and you can see the pieces of crown molding between the corbels that I was talking about earlier…I just glued and nailed that into place)

I did add a tufted bench top later on. I used another 49” x 18” piece of MDF and just screwed it to the existing bench top after I tufted it.  I have tutorial on how to diamond tuft in my post on how to diamond tuft a chair. You can just use some screws and washers instead of a needle and thread….see…

Then you just use a covered button kit (I used 7/8”) to cover up the screws…

See….just lovely!

And there ya have it…a Coat rack/ bench/ mudroom all rolled up into one!

 

 

You can see I left the old glass door knobs and hardware on the doors…I just thought it added to the authenticity of the doors. (as long as you don’t sit in the middle of the bench, they don’t get in the way of you leaning back either) :0)  hee hee hee

So there ya have it…how to make a cute mudroom/bench out of old doors!

Hope you enjoyed my project!

Blessings

Missy

How to Build a Potting Bench

Hey you guys!! I could not WAIT to show you how I built this potting bench to go in my new shed!   (more on the shed in another post!)

You remember the old 1916 house that was sitting on our churches property that was being torn down….the one where I took the old drawers from the butlers pantry and used them to build my window seat? (if you’re new around here and haven’t seen my window seat, you can go HERE to see it…LOVE IT!)  Since they were giving away anything from the old house we could carry out, I managed to snag a few of the old doors!  I have ALWAYS wanted a potting bench, but it wasn’t exactly at the top of my “to do” list because we’ve been redoing this house since we bought it 6 years ago…and bathrooms and kitchens are kinda more important than potting flowers. (although potting flowers is much more therapeutic if you ask me!)

Anyway! One day I was on Pinterest looking  at potting benches and had an aha moment! I could use one of the old doors as the back to my bench, so I started collecting odds and ends and bits and pieces to start my potting bench!

The first thing I found were these amazing old 4 x 4’s at our local habitat restore…I LOVE the old stenciling on them! (but you could use new ones) I got them for a DOLLAR each!  Score!!! Worthington Steel used to supply steel to a place my hubby used to work years ago…I thought that was kind of a cool connection too! The little corner brackets I found on Ebay…4 for $12.00!

The first thing I did was to decide the height I wanted the potting bench to be, and cut the 4 x 4’s to that height. I picked waist level, so that would vary from person to person)  Then I took some 2 x 4’s and built an open box the width of the door and the depth I wanted the table part of my potting bench to be, which in my case, was 16”.  I basically just screwed the pieces together with some long deck screws, then screwed it into place on the 4 x 4’s and the door.  (ignore the slats on the bottom, I was just dry fitting them in this pic, I’ll show you how I built the bottom box on down in the post)

Some of the 2 x 4’s were old, I snagged those for a buck each at the restore too, but there wasn’t enough so I had to use some new ones as well. The finish didn’t match, so I used a trick I saw on Pinterest.  Soak steel wool (I used the fine stuff) in some vinegar overnight and then apply several coats to your wood, allowing it to dry in between to get the desired look you want. EASY PEASY!! (but it’s Stinky with a capital S!) lol You can see in the picture below the difference in the new piece of wood in the back that I didn’t touch, and the new piece on the side that I used the steel wool on…….HUGE difference!

You can see in this picture, that it doesn’t match the old wood perfectly. but it’s sure better than the bright shiny new wood any day! :0) (you can also see how I screwed the wood into the 4 x 4 in this pic)

For the bottom box, I kinda did the same thing I did for the top, except I put the front piece of wood behind the 4 x 4’s because I had another piece of 4 x 4 that I wanted to use on the face, in between the upright 4 x 4’s.  See in the pic below…..

Here’s a closer view….see that old piece in the front..it’s nestled right in between the two 4 x 4’s and I attached it to that 2 x 4 behind it.

Here you can see how nice the old wood looks from the front…much better than the 2 x 4 would have looked, and it also sits flush. If I had used a regular 2 x 4, I would have to have wrapped it around the front of the legs like I did on the top box I made.  I like this better for the bottom. :0)

For the top, I just used a 1 x 6 piece of scrap wood, cut to the width of the door, and screwed it in from the top into the door. I found that great piece of molding from the habitat restore too. (guess how much…Yep, another dollar!)  
To attach the molding, I screwed down through the first board I put on top and into the molding.  Don’t ya’ love all the patina on those old hinges…close to 100 years of love! (ok…dirt and paint, but I still love it!)

I took the other piece of the 1 x 6 that I used on top, to make a shelf with the other two ebay brackets. Just screwed the brackets on the wood, centered it, and screwed it into the door.

I found the piece of wood to make the top at the restore too….and yes it was a dollar. I was blown away when they said it was only a dollar because it had been a mantle.  A TWO INCH THICK, 72 INCH LONG MANTLE MADE FROM REDWOOD!!! I had to bite my lip to cut into that piece of wood….a little part of my heart broke. :*(   After deciding it was ok to cut the wood, I ripped it down the middle and then cut it into three piece lengths to fit the top. The reason I ripped it was because it wasn’t deep enough to make one solid piece for the whole top, so I wanted to have equal sized widths.

I used some Loctite adhesive again to adhere the top to the base frame….

Then laid all the pieces in place…..

For the bottom I used pre-primed  1 x 4’s and cut them to fit….

I kept laying them out as I went so I could get the spacing just right in between them.

To make the end pieces fit I had to cut a notch out in them….

Here’s what the left side looked like with the notch cut out and before I put it in place….

Here it is in place….

I used the Loctite adhesive on those too….just easier than trying to nail each one in place while keeping the gaps evenly spaced. With the Loctite you still have time to wiggle the boards back and forth to get the spacing right before they dry, and it holds really well!!  :0)

Here she is all lovely and finished! :0) I found the little sign hanging on the door at a yard sale for .50, and just painted the inside part with chalk paint..super easy!

Don’t you LOVE that little stool!! I found it on a local facebook yard sale page for $10.00!! I’ve seen them on Ebay for WAY more than that! 
OH.. I also put the little hooks on each side of the sign…they were about $3.00 each. 

I now have all my gardening books down on that bottom shelf…so functional!

Isn’t it so cute!!!  I’m in LOVE!  <3

A couple more pics….

So here’s a run down of how much my potting bench cost:

Door: Free
4 x 4’s: $2.00
2 x 4’s (old and new) $6.00
mantle for top: $1.00
1 x 6 Board for top and shelf: free in garage
piece of molding for top: $1.00
brackets from Ebay: $12.00
Two hooks: $6.00
1 x 3’s for bottom: free…leftover from my raised paneled wainscoting in my dining room
sign: .50 yard sale (already had the chalkboard paint)
Three tins on shelf: free..already had them)
GRAND TOTAL: $28.00

I’m not counting the price of the stool because it’s not really part of the potting bench, I just loved it when I bought it and knew I’d find a place for it someday…and it’s perfect!!

Blessings,
Missy

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