Thursday in the mudroom...found a bench

I've been thinking about making a bench, no let me rephrase that, I thought about making a bench....but considering the amount of time it has taken me to cut wood for one wall (and a bit) in  our mudroom, as well as a shelf and little bits and pieces like that, I gave up on that idea yesterday.  Since then I have been debating between a vintage bench or a modern one like above(Atlas).  I didn't think I'd find a vintage one, so I was getting ready to tell Alain that 280euros wasn't so expensive for a mudroom bench.... (he's back for Korea tonight last I heard)

Then today after picking Gaby up from school, I decided to pop into my local thrift shop, this place is amazing, especially since Christmas, I just keep finding things, even today I found an amazing bridge chair (photos to come) for 12 euros (Gaby has since, taken it and it's now her desk chair, this wasn't the plan, but she can keep it. I'm in a good mood because I found the ideal bench, and it will fit perfectly into the mudroom once finished.

 A 1960's vintage school bench and it was a steal,  priced like the chair( 12 euros).

I'm not going to paint it, just leave it as it is, minus the chewing gum still stuck underneath.

Tuesday in the Mudroom

I've almost finished screwing and nailing the tongue and groove wood, this proved to be difficult because of the walls and angles.

I have put up a shelf (that's straight) below the window.  this will be painting in Farrow and Ball's Skimming Stone along with all the wood, mainly because it's the only eggshell paint I have enough of left (I'm going to try and paint the room just with paint colours I have left.

Now I have three F & B colours left for the wall leading into the room and I think I prefer Charlottes' Locks (the orange one) although the Hardwick white is fine too.  But the Brinjal looks too dark I think.  And yes my Charlotte's Locks is only in estate and so that would mean I'd have to buy a 2.5 liter pot.
(5.30pm update 3 children prefer the orange and Gaby's vibrant and colourful friend loved the purple.  Just Oliver and Charlotte to ask, I bet that Oliver choses the grey and Charlotte ...not sure, depends on her mood, and that changes all the time.

I found via Shelterness this coat rack and if I can find a pallet I shall do this with it  for sure

Scary/Messy Mudroom and basement, so embarassin

 This room is so untidy and dirty, I really hate it. 
There's a window that looks out on to the garden, one door that leads into the entrance hall  and another that leads you outside (under the studio) next to the where we park. See the horrible wall, well after cleaning it up, I'm going to put tongue and groove over it and then paint it in skimming stone.  We haven't yet decided if to make a  fitted shoe storage system with bench or just buy an Ikea room divider and pop it against the wall.

 Oh yes, nearly forgot, there's a third door that leads the way down into our basement.

 There are three rooms down there.  One is a wine cellar (messy), one a children's toy stockage room which is very big and has a window which looks directly onto the street (small and full of cobwebs usually, but the room is tidy) and a third room which is where Alain keeps all his power tools. 

 At the bottom of the stairs it's bad too, bags everywhere, books to give away too. I did manage to give all of my Gordon Ramsay and other cookbooks I hadn't used since we've lived here to friends (thanks Cedric and Cecile) so just a few hundred books to go.