When you spend time at home and REALLY having a productive day, you cannot help but feel an amazing BURST of satisfaction, peace and joy. Then. . . 3 PM rolls around and your clean oasis is once again, invaded by the scattering of coats, shoes and a MOUNTAIN of papers from school. UGH, how many papers does one kid have to bring home everyday?
We fell in love with our home for many reasons but the big one was that it is open.You walk in the front door and the living and dining rooms are right there. Ordinarily, you can contain said invasion within an entryway or hall. We, sadly, are without either. I didn’t want to build a wall but I needed SOME separation within our large room so we picked up a large shelf with lots of cubbies. We placed it LIKE a wall between the dining room and front door. Our make-shift entryway of sorts.
Luckily, there are four rows across so, each child has a basket for shoes, bin for scarves, hats and gloves and the big kids have a magazine holder to contain the mountain of school papers.
Does all of this get put away right when they walk in the door?? OF COURSE NOT! But, my second son’s chore everyday is putting away all of the
shoes, coats, and cold weather bulk. So, at least it gets done MOST of the time!
Being a family of 6, we seem to have a LOT of coats and this winter we have needed them ALL! With one coat rack and one closet we have had to make adjustments. I just grabbed an old tension rod (or old shower curtain rod) and stuck it above our single rod inside the closet. Since we have little ones,
the little coats work well on the top rod.
Now, in the winter, when all of our coats are out of storage keeping us toasty, we can actually hang them up instead of tripping on them when we walk through the door.
Well, a mom can dream can’t she?
I love the tension rod! Thanks for the idea. I am thinking of a great place in my laundry room. Hmmmm.......
ReplyDeleteI LOVE your storage ideas!! I will be keeping up with your blog for sure!
ReplyDeleteYour house is always such an inspiration. :)
ReplyDeleteI should try the tension rod. I'm using a drop down one in my kids' closet (I have three sharing a room). You know the one with the hanger-like hooks with the rod attached?
ReplyDeleteI love that open shelf idea at the foyer. I have a smaller area where I'm wondering if this will work for me. I think I can picture it now... I saw your "closets" on Organizing Junkie so I just had to stop by. Great ideas!
Wow, you had such a great idea for your kids' belongings! I love the look and feel of being so organized! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteVery creative. :)
ReplyDeleteSadie@
nelliebugs-swaps.blogspot.com
One question: Where is the set of cubbies placed? Is it a 1/2 wall before entering the dining or living rooms, or is it somewhere else? Either way, it's a wonderful idea, because then you get to keep the open feel, while having decorative storage at the same time! I LOVE IT! You are such an inspiration to this mama in an apartment! Better believe I'll be contacting you when we move into a house (whenever God makes that possible:)
ReplyDeletethe shelf IS a wall (for the most part) separating the front door to the dining room. it works because it does keep things open but give me the room definition i was looking for.
ReplyDelete