Mud Room Finished

I finally can say our mud room is finished. A year ago my husband took the first steps to making this bare and unusable space functional by adding cupboards and hooks at my request. We left it as is until I could finally make up my mind as to what I wanted/needed.

I didn't want to rush the process and end up with something that wasn't functional and didn't really suit our family's needs. So, we took it one step at a time. I'm glad I did!


I recently decided that I knew what I wanted to complete this project....MORE HOOKS!!! Benches that ran the length of the room and that hid all of the boots and shoes we have.

I am very frugal so we were not extravagant in any way. Utilitarian and inexpensive is what I'm after!

Our first step in making this room usable was to add used cupboards (free) for storage, and add trim and hooks to dress it up. We painted the room and added the trim around the entire perimeter for a grand total of $50. That was a year ago.

This year we made it even more functional. We ran hooks going down the wall on either side of cupboards.

First we added a board to the wall under the trim to hold the hooks.

We drew up plans for how I wanted the benches to look.

We added the supports to the wall to hold the benches.

Throughout this process I was painting the various pieces with paint and primer in one. I used a semi-gloss for easy clean up! It is a MUD room and it's white!

We added the tops of the bench. We used thick plywood for everything. It was all going to be painted so it didn't need to be fancy wood.

Hooks are in, everything is painted. We just need the final touch! A trim piece will go along the edges of the bench along the wall.

We made the middle of the bench a little lower than the rest for little ones to be able to sit down and get their shoes on, or to be able to step up and grab their coat. There are hooks underneath the lower part of the cupboard that also make it easier for the littles.

In no time at all we are settled into our finally finished mud room. Perfect for those muddy days on the farm, which happen to be quite often!

This project took us a weekend to complete it and cost maybe around $100.
We used 2 sheets of plywood which was the bulk of the project at $40 dollars a sheet.
It is the most cost effective way to stretch those dollars. The rest of the money went to the hooks which were about $1.50 a piece.

All of our shoes are under the bench which you cannot see! Yay! We took into account the height of the bench. We wanted to be able to hide all of our muddy farm boots which usually come up to our knee. The bench is the height of your average chair which is probably between 15-17 inches.

The trim is on and most of the hooks are being used. We can hang 40 jackets/snow pants etc. Not that we have that many, but it's nice to have a place for company to hang their coats too!

I am so glad to have this room being used the way it should be. I dislike wasting space.

I have been enjoying keeping all of the snow and mud contained!

How about you? Working on any winter projects this year, or just tidying up and making better use of space?


"She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness."
Proverbs 31:27