How We Completed A Beautiful Garage Mudroom in Three Days

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I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a tidy person. Not even close. It’s why you’ll never see me post about cleaning routines or organisation. Normally my brain is so full and the day is so busy, that I just dump things as I go and clean up at the end of the week. My garage sees the worst of this because that’s my first port of call when I arrive home.

Three old cluttered bookshelves with shoes and bags up against a garage wall. — Exhibit A: My Garage Before

But a friend recently told me that if we simplify and give everything a home our brain doesn’t have to work so hard to a) put things away when we’re in a hurry and b) find things in a hurry. So with that in mind, I started the design for a Mudroom/ Catch All in our garage. Here’s my initial plan:

I wanted it to store EVERYTHING. School bags, hats, swimwear, beach things, surfboard accessories. And there needed to be a drawer for our high use tools. I also wanted the build to be easy. Because the garage is a high use area, I really didn’t want it to be out of action for very long while we constructed the mudroom. I opted to use units from Flexi Storage for a couple of reasons: they were super easy to find in store; fast to put together; they had a combination of drawers and shelves; and the cube units would be perfect for shoe baskets. I’ve had a few of their units for years and knew they would hold up well to the amount of wear and tear they would see in the garage.

In the end the project only took 3 days from start to finish and the best part is, it looks amazing.

Here it is, completed, in REAL LIFE.

The design has had an overwhelmingly positive response on social media, so I thought I’d share the process in a little more detail than I usually do. As always, if you take this project on, make sure you tag me, I love seeing your progress.

You Will Need

Materials (click item for link)

2 x Flexi Storage Walk-In Wardrobe 6 Shelf Units

2 x Flexi Storage Walk-In Wardrobe 4 Drawer 3 Shelf Units

2 x Clever Cube 1×4 Unit

2 lengths of Structural Pine (we used 90mm x 45mm x 2m)

Hanging Screws (We used batten timber)

18 Adjustable Legs (available in packs of 4)

Scrap Pine to attach Cornice to.

VJ Panelling

Nails

No more Gaps Interior Gap Filler

Spakfilla Rapid

Sandpaper – 200 grit

Paint – Dulux Aquanamel in Casper White Quarter

Handles

Coat Hooks

Equipment

Drop saw or Hand Saw and Mitrebox for angled cuts.

Circular saw if you have one

Hammer and Nailpunch (or Brad Nailer Gun).

Caulking gun.

Paintbrush, roller and tray.

Steps to Build a Mudroom

Step One: Measure your space. Make sure this combination will fit where you want it to, in particular under your garage door roller as this height can vary. The dimensions of this completed unit are: 400cm wide. 220cm high. 54cm deep. Remember you can omit some of the shelving if your space is smaller.

Step Two: Assemble your Flexi Storage units and Clever Cubes. Once done they should look something like this (minus the top cube unit which isn’t hung yet.)

Shelving unit midway through completion.

Step Three: Make plywood bases for the tall cabinets. I made one piece for each end (so two cabinets stood on each plywood plinth). Use a circular saw if you have one (or old school hand saw if not) to cut the ply to size. The dimensions we made them were 122cm x 48cm.

Step Four: Screw adjustable legs to the bottom cube unit and the plywood bases. Then stand cabinets onto bases.

Step Five: Anchor Cabinets to the wall using provided wall anchors.

Step Six: Attach two pieces of structural pine to the top cube unit, leaving a long overhang on each side. Then lift up into place and attach by screwing it into the tall cabinets. We also added some sideways screws for stability.

Top of shelving unit showing how the cube units are attached with two long pieces of structural timber on top.

Step 8: Begin cutting your skirting trim. Remember to mitre the corners (cut on a 45-degree angle) to create a seamless look. Work slowly and remember the old saying “measure twice, cut once.” Nail the trim into place into the ply bases. Be sure to use a nail punch to hide those nail heads and make filling easier later.

Step 9: To attach the top cornice we first nailed some scrap pine to the top of the units so that we could easily attach the cornice to the pine with nails.

Overhead shot showing the scrap pine (white)

Step 10: Cut your VJ panelling to size and nail or screw it to the wall. I added a piece of pine to this section, to hang the hooks off. This is purely visual and if you don’t like it you can omit it.

Step 11: Fill, fill, fill! Round holes like those created from nails or screws can be filled with Rapid Filla. Straight seams like the join between trim and cabinet should be filled with No More Gaps in a caulking gun. I also filled the adjustable shelf holes that run down the cabinets too. Once dry, sand any excess filler until smooth.

Shelving with added trim at top and bottom and VJ panelling in the centre opening. Not yet painted.

Step 12: Paint the trim using Aquanamel in the colour Casper White Quarter. If you want to paint the whole unit a different colour remember you will need to prime the melamine shelving first or the paint will not stick.

Mudroom shelving looking in towards house.

Step 13: Attach handles and hooks and you’re done!

Close up of shelves and drawers with gold handles.

Woman (me) hanging a bag onto a wall hook. Mudroom shelving in the background.

After completing this unit I stood back and realised this would make a great TV Unit, just wall mount a TV where the bench seat is. Or even a home office, simply delete the bottom cube unit and add a desk. The options are endless.

Open cube shelving with a bench seat covered with blue and white seat cushions. Beach bag and flowers hanging on a gold hook.

Have fun,

Sarah xx