Custom organization maximizes minimal space, without the custom price tag.
It. Is. Done. Calling it a victory may sound like an overstatement, but it has been literally a year in the making.
We finished the mudroom storage bench!! Here it is in all its *glory.*
I’m so over the wait; I can’t even wait until the end of this post for the big reveal…
Part of the delay has definitely been due to your typical strain of project laziness. You know… the end of the project finishing touches that always seem to get left to the last minute? And this mudroom storage bench was the last detail in our kitchen refresh, and therefore fated to be finished at a ridiculously later date. But then when grandma announces she’s coming for the weekend, or we decide to host for the first time since Covid, the proverbial fire is lit under our proverbial butts and we get to work.
Yet our project slothfulness, though a challenge, was not the biggest hurdle. Rather, it was figuring out how to solve this particular spatial/organization/mathematical problem. A long and deep empty space in the kitchen, with two full size windows at the corner, where we needed to be able to neatly tuck away all the chaos that a family of five brings. I’m talking specifically in the form of shoes, coats, backpacks, masks, and that ever important child’s trinket-of-the-week.
We had hooks, we had shelves, we had crates for tossing shoes… and we had a mess. We needed a solution.
I.E. we needed a custom mudroom storage bench, without the custom price tag.
Let’s start at the very begining…
Here’s where this complex problem began…. our shoe boxes:
These pine boxes from Ikea are great. Durable, cheap, and large enough to hold 5/6 pairs of my husbands shoes… (so it works out even better for the rest of us!) They measure 18″ D x 12″ W x 9″ tall. We’ve had them for the last several years. So when we moved into The Cape Cod, I didn’t want to trash this already-working-for-us shoe storage system. Yet nowhere could I find a bench that was 18″ (or more) deep and also at least 5′ long… much less in a style that I liked, at a price point we could afford.
Of course Pinterest was happy to help with plenty of GREAT bench ideas… if you want to DIY… but we dragged our feet here. Not only would DIY-ing mean shelling out the dough for/borrowing the required tools… but even in the mecca of all bench ideas I had still not found one with the dimensions I needed. If they were wide, the were short… if they were long they were narrow… you get me?
It seemed there was only one option if I were to keep my beloved pine box storage system. I was going to have to find a DIY bench plan that could: 1. be done on the cheap… and, 2. be reasonably easy to customized, while still being done on the cheap. A unicorn bench.
The solution…
But you know what friends? I found it. After a year of hemming and hawing and searching and trashing ideas and searching again… I found the DIY friendliest, most inexpensive, but still classy, bench plan from Shanty 2 Chic. This “DIY Beefy Hairpin Bench.”
I’m not joking. Tools aside (because we totally could’ve borrowed, but Merry Christmas to us), the grand total for this bench… wood, hardware and stain/poly… was under $200. For an 2 foot wide, 7 foot long bench! Are you kidding!? I couldn’t believe that price tag.
And it even uses hairpin legs! I love that darn trend. Even better, these thicker hairpin legs can hold significantly more weight. Plus, the maker, Csonka’s Custom Rustics, uses reclaimed raw steel and items are made to order in the USA. An upcycled product from a nearby state? That made these legs a no brainer purchase for me. Get to their website here.
For the original bench plans… you can visit Shanty 2 Chic’s website and read through the free plans they provide, or watch them make the bench in the video below.
The thing I love the most about this bench plan, besides being actually novice DIY-er friendly, was that I could use cheap, readily available white pine and still achieve a custom look, without the risk or pressure for messing it up and blowing the budget on top-notch wood. Especially since I was going to have to change the dimensions of the project to fit my space, the possibility of royally screwing it up was looming large.
The customization…
The original plans were drafted to make a 16″ D x 72″ W bench. But I needed a minimum of 18″ deep and 84″ long to cover the shoe crates.
In the end, we decided to deepen the bench to 24″ to both utilize the space and create a comfier perch by the corner windows. We kept the length to 84″ so that all 5 shoes boxes, plus 1 more for hats and gloves, could fit underneath with a few inches to spare. We planned still to use the 6 hairpin legs at the ends and in the middle for support.
There was a small amount of math involved. Since we widened the bench by almost double, we needed to find out how long the 1″x4″s needed to be. The original plan called for 15″ lengths that fit together to create the simple herringbone pattern. With the help of a little cross multiplication, we used the initial ratios to figure our new one, and the lengths our cuts would need to be. We came up with 22.5 ” pieces.
The scribbles above show the math we did. If you are creating a different size bench you can use our same process, but sub in your measurements to determine how long your cuts need to be and how many boards you will need.
The difference between our lumber numbers and the original plan were: 11 – 1″x4″x8′ (vs. 5), 3 – 1″x3″x8′ (vs. 2) and rather than one 1′ thick project panel (called for in the original) we bought one sheet of plywood that measured 1/4″x4’x8′, had the hardware store rip it down the center, glued the boards together and evened the edges out with a square and guide. It worked just fine.
The rest of the supply list/directions are the same. Below is how we executed our altered version.
The steps…
1. Set up your project panel, if not cut to size, do so. 
2. If desired, glue additional project panels with wood glue, secure with clamps and let dry (we did this to increase the thickness). Trim edges. 
3. Determine the length of your cuts on your 1x4s. This will vary depending on your bench depth. 
4. We measured our cuts to be 22.5″. This allowed enough overhang that when trimmed, would fill in the remaining gaps in the benchtop. 
5. Using a right angle, mark your length. 
6. Make all your cuts. We used a miter saw to insure a clean straight cut. 
7. Measure out and draw a line down the center of your project panel. You will line your first board up against this at a 45 degree angle. 
8. Begin lining up the boards, securing with 1 1/4″ brad nails as you go. Fill with as many cuts as you have, 
9. Using a guide and a circular saw, trim the overhand off the edges (see video for more detail). Use these extra pieces to fill in the gaps. Trim again. 
10. Using your miter saw, cut your 1x3s at a 45 degree angle, apply wood glue and nail into place with brad nailer. 
11. Once the glue has dried, use an orbital sander to smooth down the surface and raised edges where boards meet. 
12. If you choose to stain, clean the surface well, and stain as desired. For this job, we used a pre-stain followed by Minwax Wood Stain in Walnut. 
11. Apply several thin coats of poly. We used Varathane Polyurethane in Clear Matte. Sand down any grain raise, bumps, etc. until the surface is smooth. We used a 220 grit paper, followed by 600 and buffed with a microfiber cloth. 
12. Apply one final, even coat of poly. Allow to dry a minimum of 24 hours to avoid scratches. 
13. Attach the legs using woods screws, and you’re done! Because our bench is 7′ long, we required a total of 6 of these hairpin legs.
In conclusion…
We found a bench idea that worked for us, size-wise, buget and style-wise and DIY-friendly-enough-wise… but how about you?
Let me know if you decide to try it. How’d it go? I would love to hear…