Making a Mudroom~

Not long after we moved into this house, I decided that I couldn't live with the boring coat-hook area just inside the back door. So I gift-wrapped it. Here is the area after my papering adventure.

It made the area much happier, and suprisingly, the gift-wrap held up really well. As a matter of fact, it was still in great shape, up until Saturday when I changed it out. As you can see in the above photo, there was a door leading into the kitchen that made the entire area really unusable. Because of that, my kiddos all used the front door as their main entrance. That really bothered me. I couldn't stand the mess of shoes and backpacks littered all over the living room. So one day a few weeks ago, I simply took the door off the hinges. Wow! What a difference that made!

And then I got the idea that I could turn the area into a little mudroom-of-sorts. So for those of you who guessed that I was using the bench in a mudroom....you were right! Luckily, the bench my papa made me fit just right in the space after I removed the door.

But I didn't like the aqua color of the bench with the green wrapping that I had used previously on the wall. So since I had to be home with the kiddos while the hubby was in the emergency room on Saturday, I switched out the paper to a black damask pattern instead, as a way to keep my mind busy while I waited to hear what was going on with John.

It matched well with the Ikea shelf we placed over the bench. (We found it in the as-is section for only $4.99...I think because the hooks were backwards..."so what!" says I.) I added two Ikea shower caddies to hold each of the kiddos gloves and hats...and a cute silver bucket that I found in the dollar spot at Target to hold miscellaneous whatevers.

Because the shelf was quite heavy, we had to mount it to studs which left it off center. So I filled the empty space with the vinyl silhouettes I shared last week. I then topped off the shelf with some Ikea magazine holders ($1.99 for 5) that hold papers..."to do", "bills", and "to file". The basket is from Christmas Tree Shop, and the boot tray under the bench is from Walmart.

On the side of the kitchen cabinets next to the bench, I placed an Ikea magnet board to hold invitations, photos and the kiddos weekly homework assignments. (You can see that we left the hinges attached to the doorway...this is a rental afterall, and I wanted to be able to put the door back on easily when the time comes.)

The spot is a little tight (hence the awkward photos), but it is very usable, and accomplished my desire of having the family use the side door as their main entrance. And it's cute too! So, overall, I'd say "mission accomplished"!

And the "keeping it real" shot for the day...what the coat hooks usually look like on a daily basis. That's life with 4 kiddos. ;-)

Have a great day~