{Entry Bench Built-in} Kottong Homestead

When we designed the Foyer of our home we originally did not have an entry coat closet. We never used the one in our first home and felt like it would take away from the openness of the entry. However while in the process of finalizing the floor plan our contractor convinced us that one day we would wish we had one…. so together we came up with a way to add a closet without sacrificing the open look I was dreaming of. I wasn’t willing to give up my sidelight windows (and felt it would be too congested to have the closet right next to the entry). Luckily, we had a good 10 feet to play with so we did an angled wall roughly 4 1/2″ feet away from the Entry Door. The closet turned out to be a WONDERFUL addition (we store all the kids shoes, gloves, coats, lanterns/flashlights… and pretty much anything we need handy for running out the door! – and the best part is the bi-fold doors that keep all the [organize] clutter out of view! haha!).

But the most exciting part of the new closet was I now had a bare “nook” that held so many new design possibilities! I made sure when I ordered the sidelight door windows that they did not go all the way to the floor because in the back of my mind bench seating would be ideal for the space.. and I did not want a window in the way!

Here is the “before” picture of the Entry Nook:

On the opposite wall we had done a stained-shiplap wainscoting with plenty of hooks for kids’ coats and a small shelf to hold our family pictures …more on that in another blog post – but here is a shot of what it looks like:

I wanted to tie in the wood shiplap because I LOVED the warmth it added to our entry – so I began drawing up a design – and this is what I came up with:

Once I got my husband on board with the plan, we went to the hardware store to purchase our supplies. I decided to go with cedar boards for the bench top and the cubbies underneath are built out of MDF. We used 5″ wide shiplap on this project (honestly because the 8″ boards were in such bad shape… and by the time we ordered new boards and waited for them to be delivered… this project would never get done… haha, our schedule is always packed and we rarely get time to work on our own projects – so sacrifices were made!)

After an afternoon of building and staining – this is what it looked like: Just like the drawing right?!

At this point we decided there was so much dead (but usable) space above the trim that a shelf might be a nice addition, so we added that real quick (out of left over MDF in the garage). After several coats of primer and paint – it was time add the finishing touches (including my Pottery Barn Oversized Iron Hooks! – LOVE them!) And here is the final product:

Another fun project done at the Kottong Homestead!