Our Custom Ikea Mudroom

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This may be a significant jump from our first post about buying our home, but let’s look at one of my favorite spaces in our house right now. Here is our mudroom.

We added this space in round 2 of our renovations when we added an addition to the back of the house. More on that later…

The Details

It was finished with shiplap, paint, and wood plank look tile. As for the storage part, it was a blank slate for a few years. I had a whole Pinterest board dedicated to the features and design I wanted in this space. Rory wanted to custom-build everything, but full-time jobs and a toddler put that pretty low on the list of priorities.

The Mess

It became the catchall for storage furniture and the items we thought should be stored in the space. However, after some time, it looked like this:

Embarrassed to even show these pictures, but it helps show the change. So, along comes 2020 and we are in the house 24/7. We added a pool to the backyard, so the mudroom usage was way up to keep the wet out of my living room. Something had to be done.

Ikea to the Rescue

Unfortunately for Rory, there was no time to wait for him to build the cabinets. I turned to one of my favorite places for storage solutions, Ikea. I have had a long love story with Ikea, dating back to my New Jersey upbringing and college days. It is a tough pill to swallow for any woodworker to watch their wife swoon over MDF items, but I believe we’ve reached an amicable agreement as to when and where it is appropriate for our house. And now was the time.

First, we cleaned out the mess. We removed everything to get the space sized up.

The Plan

I browsed Ikea online to check the measurements of the piece I wanted. I know that these were musts for the space:

Bench area with storage drawers
Extra space for shoes
Overhead storage, because more is better
Hooks for bags and coats
Large cabinet for extra bags, shoes, and outdoor items
Smaller cabinet for towels, sunscreen, pet care storage, and frequently used items

From this, I determined the best fit and functionality for the space to include the pieces below:

Ikea Pax/Bergbo Wardrobe

This is the exact one we used and made it a customizable unit when you add Komplement components. We added a pull-out basket, shelf, and shoe rack.

Ikea BESTA Media Unit

I used the Ikea design planner to pick the exact size and color combo I wanted. This is the exact finished product. I preferred the light grey walnut effect color because I worried the white on the bench would show dirt. The doors and drawer parts are also sold separately so make sure you get all the recommended items from the planner.

I also had a plan for the installation because I wanted the open shelf on the bottom for a more discrete storage option.

Ikea BESTA Cabinet

Back to the planner to make the upper cabinets. I mixed and matched the options to choose all white. This would match the attached closets, and work with the wall space details I had in mind. I chose glass for the upper cabinets to help keep the feeling airy and light. Note the upper cabinet required we get a double frame, plus an add-on.

Ikea Billy/Oxberg Bookcase

Last but not least, one more space was left for a smaller cabinet. We chose the Billy primarily because it fit the space perfectly, had a similar height to the other cabinet, and had a matching design element with the part glass, white framed door front.

The Action

I’d done my research so I knew what I wanted, I just needed a quick check to make sure what I saw online matched in person. Fortunately for us, Ikea had opened just 10 minutes away. It was easy for us to make a quick trip, and assess what we needed. Everything was as visioned, and in stock! We loaded up our cart and headed home to get it all put together.

While I know this may be an unpopular opinion, I enjoy assembling Ikea furniture. I know it can be the cause of numerous domestic disputes among other people, but we have had enough practice that we can usually get the job done with minimal conflict, so long as no one gets hangry.

The first item to be put in was the Pax wardrobe frame. This was a moment of truth because we wanted to be sure it was not taller than the wall. It was the perfect height.

Next was the media unit. Now, here we used some creativity to make it work exactly as my vision. This is the bonus of most Ikea products (not all). You can adjust so they work and adapt to your needs.

For this media unit to work, we flipped it upside down. The top and bottom were identical, and the drawers still could be installed. This gave a nice open drawer at the top and an open space for storage at the bottom. I felt this was a better way to hide shoes or whatever we felt we needed to put down there.

The next step was to ready the wall for what would be 3 individual “locker” type spaces. This plan helped us decide on the size of the lower media unit and top cabinet. Ikea had the 3 drawer units, so it worked out perfectly.

We painted the wall a dark navy blue. I wanted to give some contrast to the white cabinets. The space also had so much natural light because of all the windows, so I wasn’t afraid of a dark and dramatic colors. We took the paint to the top of the cabinet height because I knew you would be able to see inside the upper cabinets with the glass doors, so I thought this would be a good look.

We followed this up by adding the top cabinets and the Billy bookcase. It fits perfectly in the space that was left. We added the glass cabinet doors to the upper cabinet, and it was really came together.

While you can’t completely tell from this photo, we even painted the interior of the Billy bookcase upper portion so the dark blue would also show through those cabinet doors.

Last, but not least, we added these finish details to the wall. We installed board and batten and painted it the same dark color as the wall to define each space, and added multiple hooks for bags, hats, coats, or whatever.

The last touch was some shelf corbels we painted white. These were added below the upper cabinet to give an extra definition of the space.

What It’s Missing

The space is still missing a few items noted below.

Cabinet and drawer knobs. Ikea frequently runs out of the ones we want so we haven’t tracked them down yet.
Rug. With several pets, the last runner got past the point of salvage. Hoping to pick out a new one soon.