The Bench

My Grandmother & PapaJack's Country House garage strikes again! 

Last year around this time we picked up the 100+ year old mantle that belonged to my PapaJack's Mom. As you know, we have since made over that mantle (read all about it here, here, here and here). Earlier this summer we picked up another oldie, but goodie - a 100+ year old bench/pew from a church in Nashville, Tennessee.

We had spotted the bench last summer but it took us a whole year to get our lives together enough to actually pick it up and take it home.

We had a few ideas as to how we could incorporate this bench into our space. One thought was to use the bench in the dining room. We both love the look of a bench on one side of the table and chairs on the other. But, by the time we got the bench home we had already figured out our chair situation in that room so we crossed that idea off the list. The other option had been to put the bench in the hallway, off the garage, to serve as landing spot for Croix's Diaper bag, our work bags, my purse, etc.  You know...kind of like a mud-room.

We had always planned to build-out some type of mudroom here and this bench felt like a good place to start.  While I had always envisioned our mudroom being made out of cabinetry, I think building out a space around a cool piece like this bench could be a lot more interesting. We spent our long car ride down to the beach a few weeks ago scheming and dreaming about a lot of house plans, this mudroom space included. After sifting through a ton of inspiration images and sketches I think we have a pretty solid plan and we are pumped to jump in.

I have a feeling this one is going to move pretty fast, because once you have an idea that can add organization AND pretty to your life you just have to get it done ASAP! 

Unless otherwise noted all photos are my own.