ikea mud room update

Last year just as we moved into our new house, we decided to put together a bench and coat rack made from Ikea tv stand and tv cabinet rack. We put it up kind of in a hurry last year, because of on top of just moving in and unpacking an entire house we tried to get everything done over the Christmas break.

About 8 months later, we revisited the mudroom and came up with a few upgrade and changes. We had originally matched the Ikea color white and painted both units and the back wall with this semi gloss color. Over several months of looking at it, I wasn't really happy with this color. It seemed a little dull or dirty or not quite white, and maybe if it wasn't flanked by two door frames painted in bright glossy white it might have looked better. The semi-gloss paint also didn't seem to do well on the bench seat, it remained dirty and had scratch like marks in it.

Secondly, the height of the bench was a little too high for our kids to actually sit on it. The kids were getting the front of the bench dirty each time they were climbing to get up and sit. To remedy this we cut the feet down about 1 1/2 inch. Next, I wanted to change the opening at the bottom of the bench. The opening at the bottom allowed too much dirt and dust to get underneath. Weekly I was sweeping out lost shoes, dirt, pencils and other little objects that got kicked under there. I wanted to close that off and finish the molding to make it look more of a built in. While we did this we secured it up and locked it to the wall so the molding would always match up to the wall. Finally I painted the entire thing white to match the doors, I painted the top of the bench with high gloss and the pull out drawer fronts with high gloss too along with the molding to match the rest.

Here is a little recap of the process, I took a few photos of the beginning process that I missed last time:

This is how the mud room started when we moved in. they had a key drop counter in this space.

 

 

 

 

this is the corner wall without the bench in place. we needed to cut the molding away on the left for the bench to fit snug against the wall. We removed the entire molding on the back wall to put up the bead board.

 

 

 

This is how far we got after moving in. We were very happy with how things turned out. Each person in the family gets a hook and each kid gets a drawer for shoes.

 

We have cut down the feet on the bench and getting ready to put up the molding. We placed a middle block to help support the molding and allow us to nail it into something too.

not sure if you can see it, but there's a paint difference. I have painted the top left section of the back board, there is a square that is bright white compared to the rest.

 

 

 

 

molding along the floor going up.

 

finished with the molding and caulking. I also caulked other areas I didn't finish before, like along the wall and where the bead board met the door frame.

 

This is the best side by side comparison I could find. Before and after. Also in the finished version you can see our mail drop box. All stuff ends up in this room before entering the house.

 

 

 

 

these are the pieces that we purchased from Ikea. Every once in a while they go on sale if you have the Ikea family card.

Please let me know if you have any questions. I will try my best to answer them.

their first...

Believe it or not we are still experiencing some "firsts" with the girls. This one usually comes when they are pretty young. But they have been home 3 years and they just got their first hair cuts. They weren't in a hurry to get their hair cut and so a while back we all talked and agreed that they would donate their hair to Locks of Love, an organization that makes wigs for little girls that have cancer or long term medical hair loss. They require at least 8 inches of hair to be donated so it took a while for the girls to have their hair long enough to be cut and have some left to look decent.

P. and I took them to the hair dresser and they each had their own separate hair dresser to cut their hair. it seemed to be a whirlwind, I had one on my lap and P. had one on his and within a few moments they were rubber banding and cutting. I only got a few pictures of them getting their hair cut. Within a few minutes they were mostly done and they were standing in front of each other looking at the other. The hair dressers followed them to the floor and were still cutting and trimming while their stood and watched each other. They both did so well, not at all scared or worried. I think they actually really liked all the attention and looking so beautiful. Paige had 9 inches cut and Phoebe had 8 inches cut. Phoebe said that we should do it again tomorrow. :)

I took a few before pictures and I will upload some older ones that we had too. Just so you can see how different they look and how much was cut. They seem to really love their new hair cuts. they also look about 3 years older than when they walked in to get their hair cut. The cut makes them look so much older, my little babies are growing up so fast!

 

 These are some before pictures that you can see the length of their hair, this was around Christmas time so it might have been a bit longer. Below is Paige waiting to get her hair cut.

the first cut

the first cut

 

I know a little weird, but that's a lot of hair, right?

 

These pictures were taken just after we got home from getting their hair cut. They were both very happy! No more rubber bands, barrettes or pony tails. Mommy is happy too.