Empty Hallway to Organized, Beautiful Mudroom

Do you ever get tired of hearing the sound of your own voice? I know I do! "Pick up your bag, please." "Honey, take off your shoes." "Why are their leaves all over the kitchen floor again?!" I don't mind doing housework and keeping things tidy, but I insist that my family members do their share and I try to make sure we're all working smarter, not harder. After all, I don't want to feel like a broken record and I'd rather be having fun together than cleaning all the time or surfing through endless stacks of shoes, papers and coats. Enter my back hallway.

Talk about wasted space. Before I cleaned for this picture it was basically a collect-all for baskets of dirty laundry (the gated door leads into the laundry room and cat box) and broken-down cardboard boxes for recycling. Oh, and book bags, piles of dirty shoes and other paraphernalia. The doorway I'm standing in to take the picture leads into the garage, and the door to the right of where I'm standing leads into the kitchen. 

This is the entryway that most of our guests and our family use to enter (even though we have a perfectly beautiful foyer, we're pretty informal). So the first impression on entering our home was of dirty cat box smells, piles of recycling and dirty laundry. Oh and dirty floors because a certain hubby insisted his shoes were cold if he left them out in the garage. It was driving me crazy and no matter how often I cleaned or how frequently I nagged this hallway always returned to the same messy state. And the mess usually spilled over into my kitchen.

So over Christmas break this year my hubby and I agreed on an action plan that we could all follow through on and put it into place. Because training the kids is the easy party. Getting your spouse on board takes some negotiating.

My hubby built the custom bench and hook boards using scrap wood from other woodworking projects. I created the no-sew bench cushion using a staple gun, a leftover sheet of plywood, 3" foam, batting and outdoor, washable material from Jo-Ann's. Check out this great tutorial from Honey We're Home. The rag runner is from jcpenney.com. The canvas pictures of our family I've collected over time as CanvasPeople.com has their free 8x10 photo canvas sales.

And this silver tub holds our library books. Finally, everyone knows where they go and where to find them! Each family member has a plastic bin labeled with their initial to hold shoes. I love that these are plastic and not fabric as their shoes are always muddy and we can just hose the buckets out. I also loved the price (just $5 each at Target!) and the bright colors.

This is the boys' spot across from the bench for hanging their coats and bags. The hooks are right at their eye level and they have plenty of space. Originally I was going to glue down the letters for their names but they have so much fun playing with them I just left them as they are. Plus the two-year-old is learning how to spell his name.

For guests, we're going to add a second, higher row of hooks on the kids' wall. I'm also going to install these boot trays below the shoe bench to store guests' shoes when needed. We can slide them back under the bench out of sight when they're not in use. So far I've tried two different stores and they've been out of boot trays. I've heard from a friend that she got hers at the Container Store for under $10 each.

Here are some closeups of the bench in case you're interested in making something similar.

I love how it looks and feels like furniture, versus a built-in.

 And the final touch...a little felt basket for slippers ($11 clearance at Target). Shoes off; slippers on. Aaah. Now you're home.

 One last look. Notice the Wallflower plug-in on the left. Replaces the cat and sneakers smell with eucalyptus mint. :-) For the future we'll also be adding blinds to the window to help with heating and cooling. This might just be my favorite room of the house now. Here's a "before" and "after."

Follow up post: controlling the paperwork chaos. Organizing letters, bills, mail, etc at the door.

Thanks to Natasha at Serenity You for featuring this post!

Thankful Things Place Cards

I'm hosting Thanksgiving next week for my husband's family and a few close friends. Because there are so many of us (we're expecting 30+ guests this year) we're usually more of a buffet-style-paper-plate-and-plastic-cup-grab-a-seat-anywhere crowd. We're still serving buffet style, but I thought it would be nice to have place settings at the 11 available seats (8 at my new dining room table and 3 at the kitchen counter). Instead of place cards with guests' names at each seat I made Thankful Things place cards.

Ignore that crumb in the corner. :-) The idea is for each setting to have a different thing we're thankful for. One tag says "Family" another will say "Friends" and another "Health." You get the idea. Okay, I'm not very crafty so I was pretty proud of these. And they were really inexpensive. I used my own wrought iron napkin rings and jazzed them up with the same gold pen I wrote with on the tags and some really inexpensive fall bead thingies from Michael's. (Don't you like my crafting vocabulary?) The "thingies" were 30 cents a piece on sale. I extracted six or seven strands out of each thingy and wrapped them around my napkin rings. Then I used brown thread to tie the gift tags. The gift tags were the most expensive item at $4 a package and the pen cost me about $2. All in all though, not bad. Hopefully the food will look this good!

Redecorate dining room? Check!

I haven't completed the final step in redecorating the dining room--lowering the chandelier--but it's time to check this project off my list as 'complete.' Some day, but probably not some day soon, we'll get an electrician to complete our short list of projects around the house. Oh well, moving on! Here are the end chairs I chose. I LOVE this room and am very happy with how it turned out. The table, rug and drapes are grown up and vibrant without being formal. Still everything is washable, stain resistant and pre-dinged for the kids. Finally, I love that the room reflects my personality and tastes without being too girly. I may be outnumbered, but this dining room says, "A woman lives here!"

I mentioned a few posts back about the art wall we have, and I thought I'd share this view from the other side of the dining room.

 

 This is our "Free Expression" wall, for those N.C. State grads out there. Luckily, we don't have to worry about UNC fans sneaking into our house and painting it sky blue during play-offs. When the kids get the urge to draw on the walls or furniture, we hand them chalk and direct them here. I love the stuff they come up with and they love showing company their art gallery.

At this point, I figure you're tired of seeing pictures of my dining room. So let's finish this series with a final, satisfying "before" and "after." Tada!

'Before'

Phase I

Phase II

Dining Room Makeover--Phase Two

So the curtains are in, ironed and hung (thanks to Rich!). After all the agonizing I decided to stick with a solid color so I could mix things up with the table linens...that I will theoretically one day own. The drapes, which were surprisingly affordable for fully lined drapes, are from jcpenney.com and the hardware is from Target.

 Here's another view of the other side of the dining room that's open to the living room.

 

The place mats were a steal from World Market for less than $2 a piece. And I liked the curtains so much that I ordered some for my living room too.

This project is almost complete, and I'm happy with how it's turning out. We still need to lower the chandelier and decide between two head chairs for the dining room table and a buffet serving table. I know, a tough life I lead.

My posts have slowed down these past couple of weeks but I haven't been slacking. Our youngest broke his femur and has been in a spica cast. We've been blessed by meals from friends and family, so thankfully I haven't done much cooking. We are starting to get back to normal (little Ben gets the cast off this Thursday), so posts will pick back up soon. My first box of inspiration will arrive from The Produce Box Wednesday  with spring garlic, strawberries and purple sweet potatoes. On the up side of Ben being in a cast, he's been content to lay on a blanket in the yard with me, so I've done a little gardening. Don't worry, I'm sticking with herbs again this year. :-)

Dining Room Makeover--Phase One

Ta-da! If you don't recall what the "before" looks like, here it is with a photo of the artwork not pictured:

I've only changed the table and the rug but what a difference already! The table and chairs are from Pier 1 and the rug is from Target.com. I loved the idea of the rug but wasn't sure how much I would like it in person. But, Target.com was running a 15% off deal with free shipping and in-store returns so I figured I'd give this new rug a try. I'm so glad I did. It works perfect with the accent wall color and even the colors and style of my living room, which is open to the dining room.

I'm very happy with the new table and chairs, although they took a little getting used to since it's so different from the old set. I've always wanted a big farm table though. We only purchased 6 chairs for now. We want to do different head chairs eventually. For now, we've got the baby's booster seat on one of the old chairs. I've been pleased with the finish on the table. I was worried about scratches and water marks at first but the table has distressed accents so it's already "broken in" and any minor scratches and bumps we've already incurred just blend right it.

Up next:

• Buffet serving piece. When I purchased the table and chairs from Pier 1 I signed up for their credit card and earned enough points with the purchase to get $120 in store credit. I also got a 20% off coupon for my next purchase, and sold the old table and rug on craigslist. All this combined will be enough to get the buffet I want free. Love it. Just waiting for my gift cards to come in the mail.
• Chandelier. I'm keeping the chandelier but it needs to be lowered by about a foot. We've got 20 ft ceilings in the dining room so I need to hire an electrician for the job.
• Drapes. Still my biggest challenge. I have shopped everywhere for drapes and picked out a handful of samples from Jo-Ann fabric to make my own. So far, no luck. With pre-made drapes, the length is the problem. Most drapes come in 84"-96" and I need 100" or more. And I just haven't found a fabric that I'm in love with to make my own. Will keep looking.
• Artwork. Am deciding between keeping my old artwork (above), putting up black-and-white family photos in these cool Pier 1 picture frames , this sunburst mirror, or framing photocopies of some gorgeous John Lawrence illustrations from children's picture books. I don't think I'll be able to decide until I have the buffet and drapes in place.

Stay tuned for Phase Two!

Decorating obsession--my dining room!

First, the sob story. I think it will help you hate me less as I share the journey of how I am about to make over my dining room. Rich and I are both spending-averse to put it nicely. We pride ourselves on DIY projects and using credit as little as possible, so it's taken us almost ten years to furnish the house we built together back before we had babies. I also tell you this so you won't be appalled as I share the pictures of my current dining room. I know, this is killing any hopes for foodie street cred. Where do I find a camera lense that makes this room look more cool?

• The Rug: The rug was a hand-me down from a restaurant in Chapel Hill that went out of business. Nice actually, but not our taste at all. The cat also uses the rug to vent his frustrations when we don't let him out the nearby backdoor fast enough. And fringe. I. Hate. Fringe. Pre-kids I would get down on my hands and knees and straighten the fringe with my fingers. Rich would just sigh and shake his head. As you can see from the photo above, the fringe has not been touched in years.
• The Table: A discontinued, harvest-style table from Crate & Barrel. More contemporary and along the lines of our tastes. But have you ever tried to find a 54-inch square table cloth? Nearly impossible. And it has gotten a bit wobbly over the years. Plus I want a table with more presence, one that doesn't look dwarfed by the vaulted ceilings and tall windows.
• The Chairs: These chairs are sturdy but...how do I put it? Ugly. Filthy. Old. Another free hand-me down from a restaurant where I worked in the bakery in New York. No, not that kind of restaurant and not that New York. A chain buffet called The Ponderosa, Upstate. (Smooch. Bye-bye street cred.) And yes, that is two different shades of paint from the times we've used the chairs as step-stools while repainting other rooms. We originally planned to sand the chairs and repaint them. Fifteen years later...
• The Windows: One of my biggest challenges will be finding drapes that do these windows justice. I love the view of the woods out back of our house, but I don't like valances or sheers. I want a sassy, bold drape that helps with the sun/heat issue but doesn't take away from the light or interfere too much with the architectural feel of the trim. They'll need to be at least 100 inches to reach the floor, easy to clean, and I don't want to spend too much money. You see why I saved this room for last?

So the parameters. The budget--is my own business, no offense. And did I mention that I'm not big on shopping? Shopping with kids in tow is akin to torture, and when I have free time without them I'll be darned if I spend it in a store, any store. Maybe in ten years... Yeah, I'm sure they'll embarrass me in public then too, but at least they'll be old enough to carry their own change for the bus ride home. I do a lot of research online and then check stuff out in the store when I'm 99-percent sure I want it. Unless of course, there are special online deals with free shipping and an easy return policy. Cue angelic choir.

Also, we use our dining room for formal and daily meals, game night, craft center and kids' art display and chalkboard wall (photos of that for another post). Our taste is decidedly modern but I love to mix things up. Rich loves ultra contemporary with industrial details but I prefer a more eclectic modern design inspired by nature--earth tones mixed with bright colors, wood, baskets, stone, pottery. We agree on modern, clean lines and a casual, fun and comfy atmosphere.

I won't be able to have my dream dining room--I can't afford it! My hope though is to come up with something that's fun and inviting that will last us another ten to fifteen years. So check back in with me from time to time and I'll post photos of the room in progress--growing pains and all.