The Evolution of our Mudroom Bench

We are thiiiis close to finishing up our mudroom, but before I do the big official reveal I wanted to circle back and show you the progress we made on the element that kick started the whole project....THE bench. 

Here she was when we got her home. 

The bones of the bench were good but the finish had definitely seen better days. Re-finishing/ Re-viving the bench was a must but to help us figure out the best approach we decided to start by sanding the finish off so we could see what kind of wood we were dealing with. Now, sometimes the act of sanding can be relaxing and rewarding as you see the beauty of the wood beneath shine through, but this was not one of those times. Nay - the size of the bench + all the twists and turns made the process take forever while the realization that the wood buried underneath was pine took about 3 milliseconds. WOMP, WOMP. Don't get me wrong, pine is a fine wood and given that this bench was made over a 100 years ago for a church, it actually makes a lot of since, it just doesn't bring a whole lot of excitement to the table visually. Here she is all naked....

This is where life gets real. So, I don't know how any of you guys go about projects but for us, we typically have a few happening at one time. During this particular time we were working on the new laundry room door at the same time we were working on the bench. So, while one of us sanded the door the other was busy working on the bench. We talked through our vision for both while we worked and ultimately decided we would sand the door down and leave it raw and exposed (mostly because it's finish was beautiful underneath all of that paint) and we would stain the bench in a complimentary hue. Well, the door finished up before the bench and we LOVED the results of that project. With the door up we were ready to stain our bench. We ended up selecting Briarsmoke by Varathane. A warm, brown-gray hue. The staining process was pretty fast and we left it outside to dry all day.

That night, we brought it inside and set it in place and instantly we could tell something was off. We decided to wait and see it in the light of day, but unfortunately that didn't help. The bench + the laundry door didn't work, the colors were too close to be in the same space. It looked like we tried to match and we missed. Plus, I honestly think the laundry door was so pretty and organic looking it made the bench look like it was trying too hard. It was obvious that one of them had to go and we both knew it wasn't going to be the door, so it was back to the drawing board on the bench.  WOMP WOMP x 2.

So, at this point we were not about to sand the bench again, but even if we were willing to, what would we do to it? Staining wasn't going to work and while we could paint it, no color felt right or obvious. The bench needed to have personality and flair without competing with the other elements in the space (shiplap, blue door and laundry room door). As we discussed options we kept coming back to an idea we had talked about way back at the beginning, during the time we actually thought the bench was going to go in the dining room...upholstering it. I had seen an image awhile ago of a seating situation in a restaurant. It was a set-up where one side of the table had a booth and the other side had a chair. Are you visualizing? OK, so on the booth side the seat was upholstered as was a strip of cushion that had been installed up towards the area your middle back would hit if you were to sit there. The lines of the design, while totally different kind of reminded me of our bench, specifically the thin back rail piece, and Brent and I agreed upholstering the seat and the back of the bench could produce a similar aesthetic vibe which could be cool and different. So, we loaded up the Croix and headed to the fabric store.

There are a lot of fabric stores in the Atlanta area, but one place we love to go when we don't want to spend a fortune is a place called Fabric & Fringe. The place is huge and full of fabric at great prices. We didn't know exactly what we wanted, but we kind of had a thought that we wanted a leather (pleather/vinyl) look and they have a lot there.  Lucky us we came upon a really pretty camel option that was $10/yd (what!!!) and decided it was the one. Fabric & Fringe also sells all of the parts and pieces you would need to upholster a piece like this so we bought some batten and a cushion there too and headed home to give DIY upholstering a whirl.

Before we could do anything we painted the bench white. While the seat and the back part of the bench would be upholstered some wood would still show and we really wanted that to just kind of go away visually. So, we painted it the same color of white we plan to paint the rest of the downstairs (eventually) - Benjamin Moore's White Dove, OC-17. Next, we traced the bench seat with a sharpie onto the cushion so we could get a perfect fit and then used some fabric glue to attach it to the seat.

Then, we wrapped the cushioned seat and the back rail in batten and secured with staples. 

With the prep work done we were ready for the fabric. 

Let me start by saying if you've been reading this blog long we all know Brent has mad skills but he really showed off on this DIY. I was there, sure and every now and then I would use the staple gun to shoot a staple or two where he told me to, but for the most part he upholstered this entire bench by himself, whilst watching a UGA game. Now, he did have Croix helping, so of course that's probably the magic ingredient (ha!) but in all seriousness he had the majority of this puppy covered in vinyl in less than an hour. He would of finished the whole thing but about halfway through upholstering the top portion, the fabric ripped (womp, womp x3) so we had to get more fabric which delayed things a few days.

One final detail was the addition of two leather belts. 

Yes, you read that right...belts. We picked two black belts up from the fabric store with plans to install  them to the bench seat and the back for a little added flair. And whoa, what a difference this made!

Another idea we had on the fly was to wrap the foot rail in the fabric as well and I'm so glad we did! 

Well, there you have it. The longest post ever written about a bench. It had painful moments, no doubt, but Brent now has a back up career as an upholster and we have an awesome 100 year old bench that adds a layer of cool to our mudroom I don' think we could of gotten from something store bought. 

Unless otherwise noted all photos are my own. 

Details are a Rooms Best Friend

I've got a lot of projects rockin' and rollin' right now. It's been a busy summer and it doesn't look like it will be slowing down anytime soon. The jobs I'm working on at any given time can range from new construction projects where we are doing cabinetry for an entire house, to remodels where we may be working on a powder room vanity. Regardless of the type of project, those projects with heart and consideration ALWAYS turn out the best. Earlier in the summer I talked about the importance of details and with every project I start and finish I'm reminded of what a difference the details can make.

We recently completed a fun laundry/mud room project that takes functional to a whole new level. The project consists of new laundry room cabinets and the addition of a mud bench right outside the laundry room. The space is not very big, but the homeowner is SUPER SAVVY and was determined to get as much functionality out of this space as humanly possible. Every square inch of these spaces was considered. Countless items such as the ironing board, iron, laundry detergent, spray bottles and baskets have been measured and re-measured to ensure they will fit in their designated areas. We have literally squeeeeeeeezed every last drop of usable space out of this room and it turned out great.

Is this not THE cutest little mudroom/bench area? In order to create this space the contractor, Chris Pfahl of Dreamweaver Properties, had to modify the wall to the right of the door by pushing the wall into the garage to create this niche'.  This space is just big enough to house the little backpacks and jackets on decorative hooks. Additional storage space was captured in the drawers under the wooden seat and the open shelving at the top of the unit is the perfect place to house baskets. 

What you see above may seem like a pretty, updated shot of a laundry room, but it's oh so much more....

This wall of cabinetry literally explodes with storage! As I mentioned above, every inch of this space was considered to ensure that as much storage was captured as possible. We installed a partition in the far left tall cabinet to house the ironing board. Adjustable shelves were installed to the right of the partition. The partition as well as the shelving sit back 4" from the front of the door so the broom, mop and other items hung on the back of the door have a place to land when the door is shut.

 
 
The tall cabinet to the right houses three adjustable rollouts, adjustable shelves and a pullout trash can. As you can see the homeowner is utilizing baskets both in the mudroom/bench area as well as on the adjustable shelves. It's a great way to store miscellaneous items in a drawer like setting without having to actually have the drawer or rollout. Also, the adjustable shelving lends itself to a lot of flexibility in that the shelves can be moved or removed to accommodate stored items in various shapes and sizes.

A countertop was placed over the washer and dryer which creates a nice uninterrupted folding area.

 Wall cabinets & a hanging rod were installed above the washer and dryer. This addition offers plenty of drip-dry hanging space and even more storage.

 The washer and dryer take up most of the space on this wall, but it should come as no surprise that leaving valuable storage space on the table just wasn't an option. The homeowner gets 100% credit for thinking up this smart little cabinet sandwiched in between the washer and dryer. This cabinet serves as the perfect space to house laundry detergent, dryer sheets, fabric softener, etc...

The adorable shirt/short hardware was another customer find and really adds another layer of personality to the space.

All cabinetry for this project was Bell Custom Cabinetry and was constructed in Paint Maple. The Mudroom/Bench area was painted in Benjamin Moore's Frostline AF-5 and the wooden seat was stained to match the floors. The laundry room cabinets were painted in Benjamin Moore's Metropolitan AF-690.

There is no doubt about it - this client had done her research, she had talked to friends, surfed the web and utilized sites like pinterst and Houzz to find inspiration photos of what it was she was looking for. She gathered all of this ammunition and then set out to make her space work for her and her family. All of her hard work paid off because she has a truly functional and aesthetically beautiful space that others will be pinning and adding to their idea books for years to come!

All photos in this post are my own.