DIY Bench Seat

So we added a DIY Bench Seat in our Mudroom about a year ago now and I wanted to share the DIY we posted over on Liz Marie Blog, as well talk about how we have decided to use the bench seat after having it now for a year. Before we talk about the DIY Bench Seat, lets take a look on how it turned out. 

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The DIY Bench Seat has three hinged door on top underneath each of the cushions. Our thought was that Liz, Cope, and I would each have our own little storage box to be used for our shoes and whatever else we needed. While that would work with some families, it didn’t really work well for us. We found ourselves not wanting to daily pick up the cushions to open the bench seat. But we found a new purpose for this bench seat. It is more of a longterm storage bench seat.

One of the three boxes is used for offseason clothing items like shoes, coats, and now that we have a pool, it’ll probably be the home for our pool towels during the winter. 

The other boxes are used for bulk food items that we can pull from when we need to replenish and the other is for cleaning supplies that we tend to also buy in bulk. 

Okay now lets look on how we put this bench together. This was custom to our mudroom, so you will need to adjust some of the measurements to fit your space appropriately. 

Step by Step DIY

1. Install the double ledger board level across the wall. I used a double ledger board style because we wanted a strong base to drill too as well provide a platform for the back hinge board.
2. Frame your front walls for the bench. Since we were using scrap wood we made do with cutting in to fit four-piece of plywood and framing them with 1 x 3 pieces of select pine.
3. Determine the depth and cut the joist like boards that will attach one side to the ledger board and onside to the front panel of the bench. Do this on the top and bottom of each side, and one at the center on the bottom only. When you attach the shiplap this will mend together the center seam.
4. Attach the shiplap to the front panel and side.
5. Attach the base to the front of the shiplap.
6. Attach the back 3″ board to the top of the ledger board. Using a small gap, roughly 1/8″ gap the back of the boards evenly down the bench and install the hinges. We choose to have three lift-up lids and installed separators, one for each member of the family.

If you are thinking of adding a storage boot bench in a rear entryway or a mudroom like ours, I hope this helps you get the desired cottage/farmhouse look your are looking for. Keep ehcking back for more DIY’s and Tool Reviews to get those fund DIY’s done. Don’t forget to check out Liz Marie Blog, to see more on how she Styled this DIY Boot Bench in our muddrom. As Always Give Grace and have a great day!