Hi there! I’m Shayna from The Wood Grain Cottage and I’m back to share another project with you! We’re in the process of giving our small mudroom a makeover, so today I’m sharing our barn beam floating bench made from an old reclaimed piece of wood.
Because we have an outlet and a central vacuum receptacle beneath the bench, he notched around them…
Then, we held it up to the wall and made sure it was level…
And I marked all the platform holes with a pencil. With the holes marked we took it down and pre drilled the marks where our wall studs were located.
On the other holes we used plastic anchors for extra support…
Then we anchored it to the wall with several screws…
With the platform in place, we started on the barn beam…
We marked and measured it to fit our wall, which is 3 foot long, then Anthony used his saw to cut it…
Because our saw wasn’t as large as the piece of wood, we flipped the wood over and finished cutting it…
The barn board was also a bit uneven on the back side, so in order to make it sit flush against the wall, we trimmed the back to make it straight…
And since the blade didn’t cut all the way to the top of the board, Anthony finished cutting it with his saw. We just flipped the board over, marked a straight line and he started cutting…
We ended up with a very nice cut:
From there we lightly sanded the top and side of the bench to make them smooth for sitting…
Once the board was how we wanted it, we began attaching it to the metal platform from the bottom…
We used wood shims to make sure it was level, then screwed it in place…
With the beam in place, I used natural hemp oil to restore the wood…
I used a brush and gave the entire top and sides a nice even coat. The wood quickly absorbed the oil and I gave it another light coat. I’m absolutely thrilled with how well the hemp oil worked. Because I wanted to keep the wood as original as possible, I didn’t want to stain it and lose all the cracks and bug trails that had been added over the years. I am 100% completely in love with the way it’s turned out….
Because our mudroom is so small, I really wanted to make a custom bench rather than buy one. I wanted to have ample storage space underneath the bench for boots, hats, scarves, etc. And because we have the central vac outlet on the wall, we couldn’t have any type of furniture that would block it.
Plus, I really wanted the bench to look like it was floating…
And even though you can see a little bit of the metal platform, I couldn’t be happier. It ties in nicely with the wood, the white and everything else in our home. It’s also only 12″ deep, which is great because it doesn’t get in our walk path.
And don’t even get me started on those bug trails and natural cracks and crevices…
This beam has history and I didn’t want to lose any of it during the process…
Now, we just need to add a bit of our history in there too…
Until next time⦠You can find me on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter! And be sure to stop by The Wood Grain Cottage to say hi!
That is absolutely awesome! What a great project and how nice to have a
hubby who is “handy” with tools! My own husband is picking up wood
work as a hobby right now, and I know he will love seeing the process of
doing this project!
Thanks for sharing!
This is fantastic, I love it.
Oh my Gosh! I am so so so in love with this! We do not have a mudroom, just a very small space behind the front door and I have been going crazy trying to figure out how to handle the entry unit. This is perfect inspiration!
Shayna,
With your vision and that hubby of yours, you are the perfect team!!
I can’t even begin to tell you how beautiful I think this is…
Shannon
THANK YOU so very much, Karen! I am SO lucky to have such a handy husband! So happy you enjoyed the project! š
THANK YOU so very much! š
THANK YOU so very much, Heather! I’m so happy you love it and that it’s given you inspiration! š
OH! THANK YOU so very much Shannon! You’re a complete sweetie! š
Amazing! That is absolutely perfect!!
I am sure you thought of this, but if you wanted to hide the metal a little more you could paint it your wall color. š
THANK YOU so very much! I thought about painting the platform white, but decided not too. I really love the industrial vibe it adds. š
Beautiful and functional! Love it!
Debbie
Oh my goodness…..beautiful project! I love how you made a custom bench for your little space.