Mudroom entrance with shoe storage bench

flicky14

🖼️

The project:

First impressions matter. Previously you would be greeted by our washer/dryer and refrigerator upon entering our home. When we discovered we had some water damaged subfloors we decided it was the perfect time for a revamp of the space on a budget. Now we have a country-style mudroom that is both functional and beautiful. We gave our hand at tiling the floors ourselves, built the shoe storage bench and brought our pinterest board to life whilst learning a whole lot in the process (and visiting Bunnings approx. 96 times)

- Materials:

Slate tiles from FB Marketplace, dunlop tile adhesive, dunlop grout in charred ash, satin tile sealer, mdf wall panelling, skirting and trim, liquid nails, merbau benchtops from Bunnings, paint, silicone and loads more.

- Tools:

Tile cutters, diamond blade and angle grinder, paint brushes and rollers, Ryobi power tools, leveller.

- Step 1:

We found some rotting subfloor..

So we called in the big guns to replace the cement sheets and gave us a good foundation to kick off our DIY.

- Step 2:

We started removing all the previous fitout, including moving the washer and dryer out, removed the tiles and shelf and gave ourselves a blank slate to recreate the space to our liking.

- Step 3:

Next we thought 'hmm tiling can't be THAT hard, let's save ourselves a pretty penny and tile this place ourselves!' After a few youtube videos we felt overly confident. I think we did alright! We prelayed the tiles first and played around with the layout and mixed them up based on the tiles natural variation in colours before sticking them down with tile adhesive, back buttering to keep things as level as possible.

- Step 4:

Once everything was glued down it was time to seal, and grout, and seal again!

- Step 5:

We put the skirting on and the mdf shiplap look panelling, ready for painting. Cutting the skirting and trim at the right angles for the corners was a learning curve!

- Step 6:

We made good of the existing cabinet and gave it a new life by adding a merbau benchtop, sealing it up, replacing the hardware to some sleek matte black finger handles and painting it in a duck egg blue chalk paint. Cute!

- Step 7:

Next we measured and designed a cutsom shoe storage bench to give the entryway a mudroom feel. We banged this up and blew ourselves away at what we could achieve. We used the same merbau benchtop as the cabinet for a flop top lid to keep things nice and uniform.

- Step 8:

We hung a new (second hand) door, finished painting and siliconing any gaps... we made a coat rack using some leftover merbau benchtop and purchased some matte black hooks online to match the cabinet hardware and hung that up along with some wall art.

- Step 9:

And all that was left to do was enjoy and feel proud of our massive achievements.

EricL

Hello @flicky14

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us, and thanks for sharing your mudroom entrance revamp project.

What a lovely transformation! It's amazing how much difference a thoughtfully designed entry can make, and you've turned this space into such a warm and welcoming first impression for your home. The combination of the timber benchtops, country-style panelling and clever shoe storage looks both beautiful and incredibly practical, while the slate flooring ties everything together perfectly. I also love that you embraced new skills along the way and brought your Pinterest inspiration to life with your own hands. I'm sure those many trips to Bunnings became part of the adventure!

Thanks so much for sharing your materials list and the step-by-step process too, it makes it so much easier for others to see what's involved and gives them the confidence to tackle a similar project themselves. Beautiful work!

Eric