Who doesn't like to switch things up every now and again?
Way back when I bought my house in 2017, I tore down what was a dilapidated enclosed porch and rebuilt a new and slightly larger addition to the back of my house. On one side is the outdoor screen porch and on the other side you'll find my quaint master suite. Leading to the master bedroom is a small hallway with the laundry nook hidden behind double French doors and along the back wall I set up a small work station that served as my home office.
The work station served me well but once we completed the She Shed Office, I honestly never used this space as an office again.
So, I decided it was the perfect space to create a mud room.
The first step was to rework the cedar countertop by cutting it (almost) in half. I knew I wanted a bench to sit on and some hidden storage so reusing the rich wood tones of the countertop made the most sense.
To the left I used some scrap butcher block (really any wood would work) to create the bench legs and cut a curved pattern with the jigsaw for a little something extra. I painted the legs and underneath the bench black to unify the look and make it feel custom.
To the right I already had a small filing cabinet I found at the Habitat store and used an extra cabinet door I had from another project to hide my modem and vacuum cleaner. I cut out the middle panel and replaced with screen so the signal from the wireless router would not be interrupted.
Above the filing cabinet I used some old vintage doors and some trim to frame out the doors making it look like custom cabinetry at a fraction of the cost. After a lot of scraping, sanding, and painting the doors and trim black, I made a last minute decision to add screen to the doors to hide the books on shelves inside. It's crazy how well the doors fit and make that space feel so much more functional.
Along the remaining walls I installed a simple board and batten pattern with 1x6's above with a 1x2 ledge and 1x2 vertical pieces installed to add a little more character. After painting everything - walls, ceilings, and trim - in a beautiful shade of of dusty pink (Farrow and Ball Setting Plaster) I added some natural pegs along the top board for hanging items.
The last but favorite part about the space came late when I decided to spruce up Sampson's door a little by adding a 'roof' made out of scrap wood. I decided to pull together all of my favorite dog artwork for the walls and it finished the space off perfectly.
Now I love being able to see this space first thing in the morning and and at the end of every day!