The Mudroom Bench is Coming Together

Tuesday night we made progress on the Mudroom bench. The paint color was picked out; Behr Marina Isle.

I am such a fan of the Behr paint with primer in it. The paint dries so smooth it looks great after one coat and professional after two.
We got home from Home Depot and I got started right away. It was 8:00 p.m. and getting dark, but I just couldn't wait to get it done.  I got a coat of paint on the whole bench before the mosquitoes drained my entire blood supply. I am absolutely the messiest painter in all of Texas. I managed to step in wet paint, get it on my hands, and even got some in my hair.   I could blame all the mess on the impending darkness, but I have been known to make just as much mess at noon.

When I woke up Wednesday morning I had to run out to the garage to check out the color once it dried.  I love it.  It is really a soft teal color. It will look great on my khaki colored walls.  The cushion will be burlap colored fabric and I am making two coffee sack pillows to add to the bench. 

The bench is going to look great. I am so happy with the color. It is amazing to me how the paint color unifies the piece and makes it look less like a patchwork and more like a piece of fine furniture.

Hubby got the mirror disassembled so that I could get it painted. The mirror now looks like it belongs on the piece.  Wednesday night was all about Hubby routing the edges of the back and me painting the top part. 

I know you are getting tired of seeing how slow we work.  This is real life.  We work hard, we only have an hour or so each evening to get this finished.  The next time you see the mudroom bench it will be the assembly and installation.  We really are almost there.

Mudroom Bench Part 3

The mudroom bench continues.  In parts one and two I told you the history behind this dresser, and the creation of a bench for the bottom part of the dresser.  We have now moved on to the top part.  Once we got the top section of the dresser cut off we figured out the dimensions for the upper false drawer from a section of the dresser we cut off. The drawer fronts are going to be hinged at the top of the piece so that they flap open.  I sanded the drawer fronts to make sure that the wood filler is not noticeable where the old hardware was.

 This is top section is going to be a place for Hubby to shove stuff that I do not want to see laying out on the bench so we are going to come up with something to keep the flap open when he has his hand in the space.  My inspiration piece has open shelves but that would be a big eye sore here.

Hubby did a great job of reusing as much of the dresser as possible.  All the kidding I do about him, he really is a great woodworker.  He loves to make quality furniture pieces.  You know I push him to the limit wanting to take junk and make it into something.  I think it killed him to see solid oak, maple and furniture grade plywood- all of which was free or really cheap- turned into a piece that will be painted and glazed. 
He assembled the box that the front would be attached to.

The next part was determining the height that the top shelves will be.  We decided to make the bottom of the upper cabinets 53 inches off the ground after setting the bench below a set of shelves in the Garagemahal and testing it out.  Very scientific.
 Hubby cut the beadboard, the plywood backer and the 1X4 boards that he got on our last trip to Home Depot with his new table saw blade.  He is in love with the Diablo blade he found.  It "cuts like a hot knife through butter".   I was inside working on school work but he kept coming in to get me to come look. 

I was so excited to see the mirror on the beadboard.  It really did look like it was starting to come together.



We still need to make the corbels, or shelf brackets and then paint bu we are really almost there.  The next blog I write about this will be the finished project.  Yeah us!