The Mudroom Reveal

Hey guess what? This project that was so exciting to work on...in the beginning...and had become my personal stumbling block...is finished (well, finished except for some decorating tweaks).

Hallelujah and thank the powers that be. And good riddance. Let me tell you why I feel that way now.

I started with this corner, where we come in from the garage.

Nice and bright!

We needed a 'landing pad' for shoes, coats, purses, etc when we come in. Something other than the kitchen table and chairs. We needed a mudroom, but a corner will do.

The inspiration came from where else? Pinterest! This particular industrial looking shelving done with pipes caught my eye and sparked my imagination.

via

This pipe and flange look was inspired by the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs.

Since the need for some kind of bench/hangar situation was needed, Ana White's site was the first place I looked for plans. Working with wood doesn't intimidate me. I found a couple of nice plans for benches/cubbies and came up with something that would work...or so I thought.

Here's where things get a little messy...

     1) Never go off plan. Especially for your first big build.

     2) Measure at least ten times, cut once. 

     3) Remember which side is up, which side is the back...before screwing it in place.

     4) Think about the finished look...before you start painting.

     5) Never go off plan.
     6) Try to screw in the piping to the same depth for a more level look. (Not easy, trust me.)

     7) And finally; never, ever go off plan. Carpenter Jill, I am not.

Without further ado, my Ace Hotel inspired mudroom bench/shelf corner:

the 2 extra pipes on the right side may be used once I get to decorating; or they may get nixed

**Update** Well, for 'decorating tweaks', I've come up with stencils on the galvanized buckets. I had some chalk paint mixed up (1-2 T baking soda dissolved in a bit of water to 1-ish cups any paint) and had the stencil...nothing more exciting than that, but the new look works for me!

The garage entry door got the chalkboard treatment and is now very functional as a shopping list and calendar and place for notes.

The bench was featured on Apartment Therapy, and on Hometalk!

The little boxes were from the closing of The Great Indoors around the corner from me - $2! I should've gotten a few more.

I painted the inside a gray to tie into the living room color, and did a little reverse stencil on them. They'll hold the sunglasses, keys, lip balm, hair elastics, etc that we need as we're heading out the door.

Looking back, this would have been easier if I'd spent just a skootch more time planning it instead of diving in. With adding a second shelf, making the whole thing longer, not using mdf (as per the PLAN), and other assorted roadblocks, this project has kept me from moving forward on anything else because my other plan is to do One Thing At A Time.  It's not perfect, but I do like the look of it and it'll serve it's purpose. Good enough for me. Calling this one done.

This should've taken me 2-3 days tops, but 6 weeks later, it's mostly done. There are some decorating tweaks to do on it, but honestly I just want to move on and do something else for a bit. I'll come back to this as inspiration strikes, but for now no more forcing it. Next up is getting something on those beautiful Jamaican Aqua walls!

This is part of the Bloggy Olympics that Hating Martha and a bunch of other cool bloggers have thought up. This week is decorating; be sure to check out all the tutorials and linky parties, maybe participate in a few :)

Sharing at parties on sidebar and here: Funky Junky Interiors SNS #139 and I Should Be Mopping The Floor and You're Talking Too Much