The little closet that COULD...

Hello People!  I don't know about your house, but OUR HOUSE has a tiny little closet in the entry way...

I see pictures of MUDROOMS and I drool. The wood work, the bins, neatly HIDING all of your stuff. The chalkboards, the memoboards, a huge clock-- all letting you know, what's going on....  I can just smell the organization!

Do you dream about having an official mudroom? We are a family of 5 and we need some help!

I thought hard about how I could achieve this set-up without ALL the glorious space.
I can just see it now...

Everybody would come in, hang their coats up, put their shoes in a bin, and all the backpacks would get hung up.

Yeah, right....

Here's the SITUATION--

NOW do you UNDERSTAND where I am coming from?


Clearly, THIS is not working.

Our storage problems are as follows;

• Our tiny little closet is overflowing with jackets and our guests have no where to put their coats. We ALL have shoes, hats, gloves and STUFF that have no "place".
• We have a pool, so the towels have to go in the closet for easy access in the summer too.
• I get ready in the downstairs bathroom, so I have to have a bin with all MY stuff.
• I also find that keys, mail, sunglasses and the stuff my daughter brings home in her backpack are a problem at the front door. We just have no place to put it all.

AND don't forget the dog...Cooper has leashes, sweaters, and an over night bag that we use regularly.


I thought that a small CUBE STORAGE unit would do the trick. I purchased one with 6 cubes and layed it on its side. You can add a little TOUCH by adding some white spray painted wood feet to the bottom. I chose little coasters that I spray painted. It just makes it look a little more custom...

I will probably be on the HUNT to find some bigger wood feet later, but not bad for $3...

I needed 6 bins-- so, I picked 2 banana leaf bins and 4 cream fabric bins.

Each family member gets their own cream bin for shoes--except hubby because his are too BIG. The extra cream bin is for backpack overflow--lunch boxes, artwork, etc...

One banana leaf bin is for my hair stuff and the other one is for items that need to go upstairs at the end of the day ie: laundry, certain toys, head bands, etc. You know, ALL the little clutter that lies at the bottom of the stairs. We always have a pile at the bottom of the stairs waiting to go up.

The shelf above the jackets will have to earn its keep too. I happened to have 3 large extra bins that were not being used, but the material on them was a little drab. I found a damask curtain panel that would be perfect to recover them.

Just look at the personality on these bins!
It was super EASY too. Just cut 5 squares, fold the edges in, and get out that glue gun!

My glue gun was S-M-O-K-I-N'! Yee-Haw!


These bins will be used as follows;
In the WINTER--
1. All the winter hats, scarves, and gloves
2. All the snow bibs, ski pants, and ski jackets
3. Hubbys STUFF

In the SUMMER--
1. Pool towels
2. Googles, sunscreen, beach hats, etc.
3. Hubbys STUFF

Did you notice that? No matter the season, one ALWAYS belongs to hubby. Because if your house is anything like mine. I hear numerous times a day, "Where's my ______?"

He's got more stuff than all of us! You know, baseball hats, visors, a hat to mow the yard in, a different one to run in....??? Anything of his, that doesn't have a place, goes in HIS bin... that way, I can just say, "Did you check your bin?"

I started using what I like to call "THE 2 MINUTE RESPONSE METHOD". He asks, I wait, he looks, he looks some more, I wait, and he FINALLY finds what he's looking for. So many times I have come flying down the stairs, gotten off the phone, STOPPED what I was doing to only hear (When I got to the bottom of the stairs!), "Oh, here it is!"
Seriously?! I'm not kidding, it's THAT bad.


Next on my list, a hanging storage divider. One bin for each family member. I ended up cuting the last bin off to make a perfect fit.

The top one is Hubbys, then mine, then Hannah, then Hayden, and of course, Cooper, our dog. Each assigned bin houses that persons things that they use often. You know...a hat, camera, a pair of gloves, tap shoes, sunscreen, pool diapers, baseball hat, knee brace, bike riding gloves, headband, lip gloss, etc.

Finally, that leaves the mail, leashes, keys and sunglasses.

I found a hanging pocket system with hooks and I mounted it right on the inside of the closet door. The big slot is for mail, 2 front slots are for sunglasses and other small items, 4 hooks hold leashes, keys and camera.

Do you SEE that adorable houndstooth tweed cape with faux fur collar I found for Cooper?! What a lucky dog!

To find out about Cooper's new digs, click here.

I sorted through our coats and tried to keep just 4 coats for hubby and I. Wooden hangers keep it looking cohesive and clean.

What do you think?

We have a narrow hallway by our foyer that leads to the garage. I hung a plaque with 5 coat hooks and that is where the kids and I hang our coats when we walk in the door....can you believe it?

I can smell the organization!

I personalized that area by recycling an unused piece of art into a chalkboard, adding a couple of frames with some family pics, and a big clock.
A memoboard would look great in this space too.

Our New MUDROOM--

One thing is for sure-- this foyer closet is a work HORSE!

I had just one more trick up my sleeve for this space...

I had a chair downstairs in the basement that needed to be updated and I wanted to bring up to the foyer.

The chair BEFORE....

after I sanded...

I painted the chair antique white, covered it in a great burlap damask and added nailhead trim...

And FINISHED...

'

I don't mean to ring the "brag bell"...BUT

AND a picture of my Foyer Mantle that is newly REFRESHED--

I know that I am really enjoying my NEW SPACE!  I repurposed  many items I already had which means I saved some money and that's what it's all about!

What do you think?

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From my HOUSE to your HOUSE, HAPPY HUNTING!

Emily A Clark

Linking to:
Emily A. Clark
Thrifty Decor Chick
Savy Southern Style
Watch Out Martha
Tatertots and Jello
Jennifer Rizzo