Our mudroom. It’s becoming one of my very favorite makeovers… and with the addition of our latest project, well it’s absolutely pushing it over the edge…

At the very start of our mudroom makeover, I knew I wanted two things. One, a floating bench to store baskets and items underneath, and two, better organization. And through the process I was definitely not going to lose our love for wood in the mix. Instead, I found a way to bring it to the center stage…

Let me introduce you to one of my very favorite projects to date, our Barn Beam Floating Bench!

Anthony just happened to mention one day about this local antique wood dealer and I immediately had to make the trip to look around. Oh my word, this place was amazing… and full of farm life history.

There were stacks upon stacks of wood beams that came directly from old barns in the mid west. I was in awe. And I knew I’d be taking one home for my floating bench!  It didn’t take me long to find a beam that was just the right thickness with the right amount of character. I was basically wiping the drool off my chin as we loaded it into my truck…

As soon as I got it home, Anthony and I began planning how we were going to make it appear “floating”. Here’s how we made it:

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Supplies:

• 1- Metal Bracket/ Platform, Anthony made ours with 1/4 steel
• Wood Beam, cut to size
• Table Saw, this is similar to ours
• Miter Saw, this is similar to ours
• Circular Saw
• Screw Driver/ Drill
• Drill Bit Set
• Torpedo Level
• Anchors
• 3″ torx screws
• Tape Measure
• Sandpaper, to knock off rough edges
• Wood Shims, optional
• Hemp Oil

Because the beam is really heavy, Anthony decided to weld a piece of 1/4″ steel to make a platform that it would sit on. He’s a welder by trade, but the platform could easily be made with wood as well.

Here’s what he made:

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 really didn’t want to sand and stain it. There was so so much character that we wanted to keep!

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. The oil only enhanced what was there. The bug trails, the cracks and crevices, the history. I wanted to keep it all.

I am 100% completely in love with the way it’s turned out….

Our mudroom is so small, so I really wanted to make a custom bench rather than buying one that didn’t fit quite right. And I definitely wanted room for ample storage space underneath for boots, baskets, etc. And because we have the central vac outlet on the wall, which I use all the time, 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…

I wish I could explain how much I absolutely love this bench. It’s everything I wanted and more… plus it’s unique and different and just entirely perfect.

This little mudroom is so close to being finished, and I’m getting really excited to start putting everything together and adding those little details!

And just in case you’re wondering, here’s where I got all the pretty things! 🙂

• Grain Sack Pillow- DIY Project
• Wire Basket- Found on our family farm
• Grain Sack Bag- Vintage Whites Market
• Blue Boots- Murdoch’s
• Wicker Basket- TJMaxx
• Wool Rug- TJMaxx

Psst… You can see more of our mudroom makeover here.