The most important part of my Garage Mudroom Makeover was definitely the DIY Lockers. Honestly, even when our home was being built, and all we had were studs, I was envisioning a mudroom with lockers. My hubs thought I was certifiably insane!
I was pretty patient (especially for me!) and waited almost two years after moving in to create my garage mudroom.
Just as a reminder here's the before and after...
I surfed Pinterest for some inspiration, and then turned to the guru of all things woodworking... Ana White. We had the awesome opportunity to meet Ana at Haven and she was so down to earth and man can she rock out a pair of heels and a power tool like no one else!
The plans on her site are called Smiling Mudroom and they were really simple to follow.
I definitely made some changes to fit our garage and our needs. 1- I'm never a fan of anything scrolly, so I made the dividers straight. 2- I knew I wanted to add the foot artwork above the lockers, so I didn't add the top cubbies because I thought it would get a little busy. 3- I made four lockers, because well, I have four kiddos. 4- I added lots of extra wooden supports to the backside because my kids are crazy and because even I doubt the quality of my own woodworking skills.
Since Ana has all the step-by-step directions, I'm just going to fill you in on a few things I learned along the way.
The very first steps were the trickiest for me. I was working alone, so it was hard to get the pieces lined up and nailed in with only two hands. A nail gun would have been SO helpful. I'd highly recommend using one if you tackle this project.
Thankfully Jess came over to lend a hand and one of my husband's buddies came by to see the progress and we totally put him to work as well!
I had this wood leftover and used it as additional support on the backside. It made the piece so much sturdier.
Have you used a Kreg Jig yet? I used the Kreg Jig Junior for this project and it worked so well. You use it to make pocket holes and it's a piece of cake. If you're planning any DIY woodworking projects, I'd recommend a Kreg Jig as one of your first purchases.
One thing I learned to love during this project was trim. It makes a rookie's work look all fancy-pants professional.
Before trim...
After trim...Booyah!
Here's a little tip that I figured out after making a few bad cuts when I was just trying to use a tape measure to get the length right.
If you're planning a garage mudroom, make sure you check out the edge of your walls. I overlooked the concrete lip and had to go back and notch out each base piece.
I gave it a quick sanding... AKA I sanded for about 30 seconds before thinking,
This is for the birds! Let's get painting! Since I used a VERY cheap plywood it sucked the paint up and actually gave it more of a stained look, which I fell in love with.
I added some hooks to the back wall for backpacks, coats etc.. I didn't have studs centered for each one, so I had to use mollys (wall anchors). I picked up the grey bins at Walmart for $3.00 each (they still have them- I checked this weekend)
The locker project was so simple and if my husband and I had worked on it together, we could have whipped it together in about an hour. I was honestly surprised at how easy it was because of Ana's plans.
To check out the Before and After post click HERE
For the Painted Rugs post click HERE
For the Foot Artwork post click HERE
Tell me, do you have a mudroom type place in your home? If so, do you feel like it's functional? If not, would you want to build one somewhere?
And don't forget that we're in the running to be the New Face of Proctor & Gamble Home! Please head over and vote for Monica. You can vote once a day, now through October 3rd. We SO APPRECIATE you taking the time to vote each day!
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