I’m back today as promised on Wednesday’s post, to go into the details/tutorial of our DIY mudroom that turned out to be a life saver for us. For those of you who missed it on Wednesday, I shared the pictures of our stairwell/mudroom revamp project.
Here is the before picture:
and here is the after picture:
My biggest challenge for this space was trying to figure out a way to incorporate some sort of mudroom into this narrow hallway. This hallway is right by our back door to our garage and we desperately needed a spot to hang jackets, backpacks, hats and baskets for little things. The hallway is super narrow and measures approximately 42″ or 3 feet x 6 inches. Yep, not much to work with.
On the front end of this revamp project, I knew that I didn’t want to simply put hooks on the wall but rather I wanted a really pretty piece that looked built-in and finished. I didn’t want to spend a whole lot of money of the piece as well. I also needed shelves for baskets and additional storage for us to drop and store little stuff like scarves, mittens (which we rarely need in Texas), flip flops, travel bags, headphones, ect..
So, we came up with a plan to do this pretty built-in mudroom wall, which turned out to be a very inexpensive, functional and beautiful solution for us. This project was done under $150.00!!
As we started to design the mudroom, we looked carefully at things like how far could we come out until it infringed on our walking space into the laundry room. We also thought about how much space would we need to allow to move things like a washer and dryer in and out of the laundry room. We also didn’t want it to look funny and just stick out. So we decided to use the most natural thing to guide us and that was the door frame into the laundry room:
The measurement of the wall to the inside of the door frame is about 5- 1/2 inches. We knew that 1 x 6 pine actually measures 5 -1/4th, so we came up with our plan.
We started by planning out the wall layout and we measured out and drew lines direction on our wall for the layout. I did not want to the piece to go all the way to the door frame itself but rather have a few inches of wall between the side of the mudroom piece and the frame itself to help make the mudroom look more like a built-in. We also wanted to use the wall itself for the shelving part and only use the paneling in the middle (the coat and hook area)
I wanted to use bead board paneling but I wanted a more modern look, so we decided to turn the bead board paneling on its side going horizontal:
Bead board paneling is 8 ft. x 4 ft. and we turned the paneling on the side, so the grooves are going horizontal, which was perfect because the length of my hallway is over 10 feet. As you can see, by turning the paneling on the side and centered on the wall, it’s exactly about how much space we needed for the coat and hook part and then the edges top and bottom were the natural place to begin the shelves.
We purchased our paneling from Home Depot and this is link here for what we used.
Next, we determined where all of the studs were and then we got the paneling on the wall and attached it with a lot of finishing nails basically down each groove and stud line. I didn’t want the piece glued to the wall like some wall paneling:
On the top and bottom of the paneling, we nailed 1 x 2, which would eventually be our shelf brace. We nailed it onto the paneling to help secure the paneling as well (rather than the wall).
Next, the first shelf was added, which was a 1 x 6, which again actually measures 5-1/4th inches (the exact width that we had to work with!!). It was nailed to the 1 x 2 shelf braces at the top and bottom of the paneling:
The 1 x 6 shelf was flush on the wall but nailed to the 1 x 2:
After the top and bottom shelf were added, we added a second shelf the exact same way up top and down below. We used another 1 x 2 as well to brace the shelf. We placed the second shelf centered between the ceiling/floor and the first shelf up top and down below. (Unfortunately, I did not get a picture at this stage, so here is a picture of the layout of the shelves on the finished piece):
After our shelves went up, we then added the sides of the built-in which went from floor to ceiling, which of course was also a 1 x 6 (measures 5- 1/4th inches). At the floor, instead of having to remove the baseboard, the 1 x 6 was cut and rounded to fit over the quarter round at the floor:
The side pieces were nailed into each of the shelves up and and down:
Once the piece was built, all of the edges, shelves and 1 x 2 braces were caulked. After the caulk dried, the piece was primed with Kilz and then the piece was painted with oil-based paint in a matte. We used the same color as the trim and banisters, which was Mindful Gray by Sherwin Williams:
Because we wanted the piece to look like a built-in, we only painted the piece itself and the inside of the shelves in the Mindful Gray. We left the wall on both sides of the piece my blue/green wall color.
Since we used oil-based paint, we allowed the piece to completely dry for 48 hours and then we added six combo coat and hat hooks across the paneling part of the piece. The hooks were positioned and drilled into each stud for extra measure:
I couldn’t find hat hooks, so I purchased standard smaller hooks and we drilled them to the inside top of the first shelf above the coat part of the piece and they work perfectly:
The next challenge was finding storage pieces and baskets for the shelves with widths that were 5-1/4th inches or less. I keep a tape measurer on my key chain, so as I looked through storage pieces at the store, I could measure. I ended up finding the awesome wire baskets on the bottom shelf in the Christmas section at Hobby Lobby. They were red and had handles. I used a wire cutter to remove handles and I sprayed them in chrome:
Remember when looking for storage pieces to consider anything! With a can a spray paint, anything can work!
I hope I’ve explained all of the details clearly. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comment section and I will get back with you with any additional details. I’m thinking that maybe I need to draw up a plan or something. If you would like a plan, let me know and I have enough people who want one, I will do that.
Before I close, I have to mention again that I do not do these big projects alone and have great help with a contractor friend Jesus Terrazas, who helps me with my grand, crazy plans. I am really fortunate to work with him because he has taught me so many tricks each step of the way and ways to save so much money on these projects. Since my husband doesn’t want anything to do with DIY have the time, over the years Jesus has become my DIY partner and helps me with the big stuff. Thanks so much to Jesus!!
Have a wonderful weekend friends!
Cheers!
Cyndy
pamela mccurdy says
Looks amazing!! Love it. Great job. I think it’s great inspiration for many hallways that could be utilized better. Very creative.
Delilah says
I love this!!! Can’t wait to get started on it!
Marty@A Stroll Thru Life says
I absolutely love this, how fabulous. It looks amazing and definitley does the trick. Great tutorial too. Hugs, Marty
khaki salmon says
Beautiful! Now if you can only keep it looking that neat….. 😀
teddymom says
This is a perfect solution to my narrow small hallway (48″ long X 42″ wide) from the garage to the kitchen! I have been searching and searching for something that wouldn’t cause a further narrowing of the space. Thank you so much for your clever design! Question: did you use 1″x6″ furring strips, or the better (and more costly) kiln-dried whitewood, or something else for the shelves? What does Jesús recommend?
Mary Ruth says
Came out really well, and kudos to you on your measurements and space planning! Love those baskets to hold ‘stuff’! Thanks for mentioning the wire baskets were found at Hobby Lobby! AND love how you put up the panel of beadboard to make a more durable surface behind the hooks. Great make over! And so useful!
Shelly says
Our master bedroom is Mindful Gray. Such a pretty shade. I really like it in combination with your blue/green wall color and have been looking for a similar one for our master bath. Could you tell me what that soothing color is please? Thank you kindly!
Shelly
Alane Simons says
I am impressed….again! This looks amazing Cyndy!!!
Mary says
This looks great, you did a fantastic job on it. I love the rug, where did that come from?
Melinda @ love melinda says
Great use of a narrow space! I’m especially loving the storage baskets on the bottom shelf. And I’m going to have to find a measuring tape that goes on my key chain, genius!
Joe S says
You said that Jesus helped you with this . . . . . well he was the son of a carpenter, so I think he’d be a good choice for a helper!
Amy says
Amazing! Where did you get that rug?
Cindy H. says
Beautiful — I also love the rug. Where did you get that at??
Katie Alberter says
Great use of space! I’m with Cindy, and LOVE the rug!!!
amy says
Looks awesome, where u get that rug?!
Carol says
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I have been searching for a narrow mudroom idea forever. I love this and think it will work for our space. We have a very narrow hall leading to our bathroom (just off of the garage where we always come in and out.) Our laundry closet is in this hall, too. We already have shoe racks there that stick out nearly 11″, so this would really help to streamline the space and keep it useful. Thanks again for sharing your process!
Allyson says
Just finished mine! Thank you for the wonderful idea!!
And target sells “tank baskets” they are exactly 5 1/2″ wide perfect for the narrow shelves!
Lisa says
I found this via Pinterest and I’m so glad I did!! I have a wall in my living room that I wanted to turn into a mudroom “wall,” but like you I only have a few inches of depth to work with. I wasn’t sure how I was going to pull it off until now!
Annette says
Hallelujah!! I could kiss you. Have had this same dilemma for many years now. You have saved us! Definitely going to do this!! Thanks!!
Marcin says
great work! – where did you get that rug from!?
Stacey Yusi says
Just finished our “wall” and it looks amazing. I can’t tell you how happy I was to find this site and this post. Love, love, love this.
Jaimie Kenney says
I love this!
Do you have a parts list for everything you used for this project?
Kylie says
A plan would be amazing – this is the perfect solution for our narrow space, too!
Becky says
Hey Cyndy!
So I loved this project and I have a similarly narrow mudroom so I did this and it looks awesome
Only took me a day and my husband was kind enough to paint it for me! I couldn’t find baskets so I bought two $10 wooden crates and cut them in half long ways then nailed on wooden back and it works out great! I also added quarter curve molding in two areas. I’d love to share pictures!
Thanks for the project !
B. Watson says
I LOVE THIS IDEA!!! Thank you for sharing!
Eimear O'Neill says
Hi Cyndy
Love what you did to your entryway especially with such tiny space. My dimensions are very similar so it was great to see what could be produced and to such a superb quality.
Where did you get the wicker baskets on the upper shelf?
And do you have a step-by-step plan for the layout?
Eimear
Laurie says
Absolutely great project! I love it!!!
Aria says
Cindy – this project is AMAZING!! I am buying a home that unfortunately has no mud room so I was looking for solutions to turn an art niche wall in a hallway into a pseudo mudroom with hooks and possibly going into the studs so it doesn’t come out too far. You just saved me the hassle of hiring a contractor to tear up the wall!! I am definitely interested in the plans if you are willing to share. THANK YOU! This is so awesome and looks so custom.
Beth Oliver says
I love your narrow mudroom. We are going to try to get this done before the start of school. Do you have plans you would mind sharing?
Janet Harris says
Cindy,
Would love your sources as well for the hooks and rug, and blue/green sw paint color.
Love what you did!
Nicole S says
Would you mind sharing the dimensions of the space from wall to wall (including the staircase)? We’re thinking of adding a back stair case and creating a mudroom, but I’m not sure how much space I have to do it all. This would give me insight on how it might look. Thank you!
Christy says
Love it! Where did you get the coat hooks?
Courtney says
Can you please forward me the hallway organizer plan? Also… that’s gray paint and not a cream white color?? The whole thing is amazing and will work perfectly in our narrow hallway!
Sheree says
I would soooo love to have the plans is you made them up! This is such a useful use of space that is normally a wasted space. Perfect for what I need. Yes, I also love your wall color, If you would include that also. Thank you many many times over.
Coleen says
This Is EXACTLY what I have been looking for!! We have the same problem~ very narrow hallway with laundry and guest room. Could you PLEASE make plans???? I showed it to my hubby and he and his handy man buddy want to do this.
Thank you!!!