Building a Storage Bench I

So our Mudroom.

I've never had a mudroom before.  Now that we have one, I'm not sure why anyone would ever build a house without one.

So in the interest of maximizing this space (and using my off time productively), we've decided to build a bunch of stuff.  Like this storage bench:

Via ana-white.com, made by Amy Courts who is a fantastic singer/songwriter

And also a jelly cupboard type thing, but we'll talk about that later.  I'd like to keep our shoes in the mudroom, because the pile o' shoes that always line the kitchen wall just don't do anything for me aesthetically.  The bench is something, I think, that will keep us (me) from just by-passing this useful space in favor of sitting down in the kitchen to take off shoes.  And depositing those shoes in the kitchen.  But if we're going to build a bench, why not make it a storage bench?  Of course!

Here's the plan:

I know people say not to rip small cuts like this off of plywood, but I already have the plywood.  And this way there's no hunting for straight boards.  And I've made smaller cuts than this before, anyway, so I'm pretty sure I can pull it off (however, I probably definitely do NOT recommend you make these cuts in ply...just buy the 1x2 furring strips!).

My plywood is oak veneer, and I intend to buy the 1x3s in pine...and, of course, the top boards will be cedar which I'd like to leave bare to age and weather naturally.  So with this mix of wood species, I'll be painting.  In milk paint white.  Did you know milk paint has no VOCs and thus no stinky paint smell?  Which means I can paint indoors!  And the mudroom won't be toxic!

Horray!