Winter Gear Storage Solution: Simple DIY Shelf & Bench

This is a sponsored post written on behalf of Behr. The opinions and text are my own.

Winter is right around the corner here in Northern Indiana, and for all of us who live in cold and snowy climates we know that along with winter comes lots and lots and lots of winter gear.

Our entryway becomes overrun with snow boots, coats, snow pants, hats, gloves, and scarves, in addition to our regular bags, backpacks, shoes, and more. Since we use this gear for as much as five months out of the year, it makes sense for us find a simple yet effective way to store all of our stuff.

For awhile now I’ve felt like we were underutilizing the space on our front porch. We don’t really have a good place to store and organize the stuff we need for heading out from our house. Jer and I keep some of our shoes on a pallet, and we have a wire basket that sometimes holds some of the kids boots and shoes, but that’s about it.

Inside our front door, which opens right into our living room, we’ve created an entry space with hooks on the wall for coats and backpacks, and a bench with rolling bins for shoe storage underneath. And this works well for us when the weather is nice, but becomes inadequate when the days turn colder.

So we decided to come up with a storage plan for our winter gear on our front porch this year. We want our kids to leave their boots on the porch and not track all that snow and dirt into the house. We found a DIY plan for a bench where we can store all of our boots, and where we can sit, and guests can sit, to put on or take off boots and shoes as we’re coming and going.

We also wanted to add some wall storage for items on the porch. We don’t have enough hooks inside to hang all of our big bulky coats, snow pants, backpacks and bags during the winter, there’s just not enough space. So by creating another hanging area on the porch, we will have enough room to store everything, while also giving guests a place to hang their coats when they come over.

I will admit that I’m extremely fortunate that my husband is quite handy and good at woodworking and was able to find and modify this bench plan to fit our space and our needs. He also created the shelf with the hooks to match the shelf and hooks we have inside the house.

We decided the best way to build the bench was to use sanded pine plywood because it is inexpensive, and one sheet could complete the whole bench, along with some wood pieces Jer already had in his workshop. Because we were using a lower quality wood, and because we know this bench is going to get a lot of use, we decided to paint it with a high quality paint, rather than stain it.

BEHR MARQUEE® Interior Paint & Primer was perfect for this project because it is guaranteed to cover in one coat when you use one of the colors from the MARQUEE Interior One-Coat Color Collection. It also includes primer, meaning we could prime and paint with just one product.

We chose the Eggshell Enamel because it resists dirt and grime, as well as mildew, and is easy to clean with soap and water, a must for a bench that will be holding wet, snowy, and possibly muddy boots and shoes.

After my husband built the bench (again we used this plan and modified it to fit our space and needs) and the shelf, and sanded it smooth with 80 and then 120 grit sandpaper, it was time to paint. We chose a dark greyish brown color, Gardener’s Soil, to look like wood and to help hide any dirt.

First we wiped everything down with a tack cloth to remove any dirt or dust. Then we painted with a high quality roller and paint brushes.

I was skeptical if one coat of such a dark color would completely cover the wood because it was unfinished, the one coat cover guarantee only applies to previously coated surfaces. But once we started painting, I was pleasantly surprised!

Our kids helped and we had a little painting party in our dining room to pain the bench and shelf. The MARQUEE Paint & Primer covered completely and thoroughly, and dried quickly and beautifully. This will be our go-to paint for painting wood or furniture from now on, combining the priming and painting in just one product saves so much time!