Custom Closet Stand/Bench Surround

During the January that will never end, we’ve had many, many snow days. This equals a mess. And when we don’t have snow days, we gear up for every trip outside. This also equals a mess, plus puddles. And so many mittens.

A while ago, I removed the doors to the closet right off our garage and inserted a bench with a shoe rack, plus moved in two little cupboard/shelving units to hide stuff away. Can my family be bothered to put things on these shelves? No. And since the bench didn’t quite fill the whole expanse, I always intended to use that extra space on the sides for bags and bigger items… But of course mittens and all sorts of “precious” things ran for their lives and disappeared down these sides. Also, my girls had to stand on the bench to reach the coat hooks, but with the bench against the wall, there wasn’t room without them falling over backwards. They also could barely climb over all the shoes to get to the bench.

None of this was working.

So, I finally snapped a few weeks into January and found a way to block precious items from ever falling into the abysses again. By building a kind of stand/bench around the nice bench I already had (I didn’t want to get rid of it, since we really like it, but it needed to be more functional) I created a place to set wet things while they dry. And, now the girls can stand on the bench and reach the coat hooks without falling over. PLUS, this gives me hidden storage for extra boots, bags, etc.

The nice thing about doing this custom is that it fits exactly into our closet space. I could have built a whole new bench insert and shoe racks (I know people will point that out) but I genuinely like the bench we have, and it looks nicer than what I would’ve come up with.

Step 1: Remove closet items and measure. Our closet has one side wider than the other. I don’t know why, but it made measurements a little complicated. I decided that I liked the bench centered in the doorframe rather than centered between how far the shelves stick out. This left me with 5 inches on one side of the bench, 8 on the other, and 15 inches between the back of the bench and the back wall. I wanted ALL of that space covered, with absolutely no space for things to fall through. The bench was also 19 inches high, so I wanted the top of my stand to be level with the bench’s seat.

Step 2: Cut bracing pieces and assemble. Using 2x4s, I cut two pieces to cover the full width of my closet, 41 inches. (Yes, you can see from the lower picture below that I used one shorter scrap piece. This worked fine, but if you’re living in a perfect world, splurge and cut yourself two pieces at the full width. 😆)

For the front piece, I cut 3 legs at 16 1/4 inches, since this would bring my whole height once completed to 19 inches, like my bench. Basically, just figure out the height you want and make sure that the legs + the piece going across + the stand’s top = the height you want.

Also note, I didn’t need legs for my back wall piece, since I knew where the studs were. If you don’t want to screw into your studs, create extra legs for that back piece going across too.

To assemble these braces, I stood up my 3 legs and lay the long piece across. I made sure to bring in the 2 legs on the ends so that the closet’s baseboard wouldn’t be in the way. I only used 1 screw to secure on each leg. You could use 2 if that feels sturdier. Just be sure that the heads of the screws don’t stick up higher than the wood.

Once that front brace was assembled, I set it in the closet and tested placement by setting the bench where I wanted it to be. I nudged and wiggled until the brace was exactly lined up and straight, then I just made little marks on the walls at either end so I’d know where to line things up if it got bumped. You don’t have to secure this brace to the walls at all, which makes this pretty easy! Once I knew the correct placement, I took the bench back out again so it wasn’t in the way.

For the back piece, again, I just screwed it into the back wall’s studs.

Step 3: Make the stand’s top pieces. You could use plain wood, then paint or stain it. You could use countertop stone pieces… There are probably many options for how to create the top of this bench surround. I decided that I wanted something dark (to match the look going on with our wallpaper) and something waterproof (so we could lay wet stuff on it to dry). Since I had a bunch of leftover MDF and epoxy, that’s what I went with. I also chose this because I could match the bathroom countertop in that same area of the house, and I plan to do the same with our laundry room counter nearby – we can have a matching “wing of the house” this way. 😜

First, I checked my measurements for the 2 side pieces I’d need. One was 5 inches wide (wall to side of bench) and 24 inches long (back wall to front doorway’s inner side. The other was 8 inches wide and again 24 inches long. I cut these 2 boards of MDF, then tested their fit. 👍

For the bigger, middle piece that would sit behind the bench, I decided to leave a little wiggle room so my fingers could get in there to lift off this part. Under here was where I’d get that extra storage. So, I went with 14 inches deep (back of bench to back wall) and 26 1/4 inches long (left top board to right top board, leaving a little room, about 1/2 inch either side).

For my FULL process on how I epoxy counters, etc. see this post. Basically, if you go this route, follow the instructions of whatever epoxy you’re using. I use StoneCoat Countertop epoxy, and it’s always worked great for me. For this project, I used only 2 Solo cups’ worth of epoxy – first for the color coat and then for a clear, protective coat overtop.

First, I sanded the corners of my MDF, especially the sides that would be facing the bench, not facing the wall. Next, I used plain-old latex paint and put on a coat of black. I gave this about 4 hours to dry.

Next, I mixed the epoxy according to instructions – I can do this by look and feel at this point, but be sure to follow your instructions if you’re new to this because mixing it well is very important. Then I added a little black epoxy dye into my epoxy, stirred, poured that on my boards, and sprinkled on a little gold mica powder. Using a glove, I wiped around until I liked the look of it, being extra carful to make sure it went over my corners to get the sides. Then I took a few drops of white acrylic paint and wiped that around to make little, broken, marble-like lines. NOTE: This acrylic paint will shrink up and get crackly, so keep an eye on the look as it progresses, because it won’t necessarily end up looking like what it looks like right away.

Once done with my design, I hit the surface with a quick pass of my kitchen torch to get out bubbles, let it sit for 20 minutes, torched out bubbles again, and then let it set for 10 hours. Once it was not tacky to the touch, I poured on my clear coat, torched it, and again let that set.

Again, different epoxies vary, but I let mine set for a week to cure. After that, it was ready for light use, even though it takes a full 30 days to completely cure. When my pieces were ready, I sanded the undersides to remove the dried bumps of dripped epoxy. Then they were ready.

Again, you could use something else for the top pieces of your stand/surround, but I really like how this epoxy always turns out, plus it’s super-durable.

Step 4: Installation and finishing touches. Taking my top pieces to my waiting braces, I started with the 5-inch side. Making sure I had that 5-inch piece turned so the nicer edges were away from the walls, I set it in place and found that it fit perfectly.

Before securing it in place, I went underneath and installed a little bracket thing. This I screwed to the inside of the front wall/doorframe side. If you don’t have these, use a little L-bracket, which honestly would work better and easier. (I just happened to have these things and was looking for a way to use them. lol)

Anyway, I added this bracket with the top board in place so that placement was easier – I could see exactly where it needed to go to be a level support.

Once done testing the placement of my 5-inch top board, I removed it and applied a little wood glue on the tops of the 2 braces where they’d touch my top piece.

Once ready, I pushed the 5-inch piece into place on the wood glue. I next went under the braces and screwed up through them – don’t get too long of a screw!! – to secure the brace and the top piece together. I also went under and screwed the bracket to the underside of the top board.

I repeated all this for the 8-inch side’s top board.

All of this keeps the loose brace in place rather than having to attach it to the side walls because, if your top side pieces sit snug enough in the space, this whole stand/bench surround won’t even wiggle.

It was at this point that I decided I wanted to paint the braces in the same black as the paint I’d used for my top pieces’ base layer. You could do this earlier, if you choose, but I liked seeing everything in place and knowing exactly how much would be visible anyway – I needed to be careful with the little paint I had left.

For the middle top piece, I considered putting hinges on it. But, I can easily imagine little fingers getting pinched with a slam. Or, I could’ve put handles on it, like drawer pulls, to make lifting it out of place easier. But, I wanted everything to look nice and smooth, without anything to catch on little butts if they sat back on this part. So, I opted just to put little cupboard bumpers on the bottom corners of the big middle piece. This lifts it slightly where the piece rests on the 2×4 braces, making it both easier to grab and also more stable so it doesn’t move around or do any damage when set back in place.

Step 5: Place the bench in place! With everything secured, I slid my bench back into place in the gap. It fit great, with no room for losing treasures, and looks really nice. My 3/4 inch MDF worked perfectly to bring the full height of my stand to match the bench’s 19 inches, so it all looks like it is meant to go together.

The best part? The next snowstorm, the girls threw all their stuff on the bench’s surround, everything dried without making a soggy mess, and no mittens were lost.

---

DIY Must-Have Lists