This still counts a house “project” even though we bought all these pieces, right?
Our foyer has been through a few renovations since we moved in. The first one was fixing the coat closet. It blew our minds that the coat closet had one of the sidelites in it. What in the actual F. We had the closet made smaller so the window was in the foyer, not in the closet. So much facepalm.
The second project was adding a table, and eventually, a mirror. Ha, such project! Very work! Much hard!
This third project is in a similar vein to the second one – I’ve wanted a place to sit in the foyer to put my shoes on and take them off (and I KNOW our guests want this!). So we ordered a bench, coat hook strip, and shelf! Edited to add – Steven ordered all these and installed them all too!
Before pic – I forgot to take one from the same angle, oops. The bench, coat hook strip, and shelf are all on the right side of that sidelite.
The shelf came first and looked really lonesome by itself. My snis helped me pick out some fake plants to put on it. Thanks, snis! Those helped a lot, but I was anxious to see the entire ensemble.
The bench came Tuesday. It’s smöl, but fits perfectly in the space and I already used it to put my shoes on, and it was fab! IT’S SO NICE TO BE ABLE TO SIT DOWN TO PUT MY SHOES ON (especially since I often wear gaiters and that’s an extra step).
The coat hook strip arrived yesterday and voila!
We liked how it turned out! If we ever have visitors again, we’ll all just have to wait our turn to use the bench though. Ha.
It looks great! My life dream is to have cubbies in our entryway so everyone has a place to hang their coat/bag and put their shoes. But to have space for that we have to do 4 other projects first. So probably not happening anytime soon. But this made me think about getting a bench! Especially right now it is very hard for me to bend down and get my shoes on or to help Cooper with his shoes. I might have some shopping to do today…..
Thank you! That is a good idea! What four projects do you have to do first?
And yes, a bench sounds like a great temporary relief and I bet everyone will use it! (except the new baby <3 )
Well we currently have a big buffet thing in the entryway that stores extra dishes, tablecloths, and our liquor. So we need to close up an exterior door in the kitchen that we never use and turn that space into a pantry to store all that stuff. But we can’t do that until we are ready to replace the siding, because our current siding is really faded and anything new would really stand out. Before we can do any of that though, our downstairs bathroom needs to be redone because the tile is all broken, and the vanity is off centered so you can’t open the base cabinet doors on the right because of the heat register. So probably I’ll get my cubbies right around the time my kids go to college 🙂
Oh yes, a lot to do! Do you think you will do yourselves or hire out?
Could you just block the door now and actually take it out and do the whole house siding later, or no?
Probably a combination. We are learning to do a lot, but there are some things I definitely want an expert to do. Plus with little kids we can’t have the house torn apart for long or dedicate all our energy to projects.
We could just block the door, but it would look pretty bad from the outside and it is in a spot where you see it from the road. It is one of those things where you wonder why on earth they built it that way (like your sidelight in the closet.) Why do you want a door from the side of the yard right into the middle of the kitchen?
That sounds like a good plan! I don’t know how people with young kids do it! We have friends remodeling their home (like, adding another floor) and they have two young kids and I like “HOW?!!” Hee hee.
Ahh gotcha. Yeah, it would look bad. We have a lot of questions about stuff like that in our house too, that we really wish we could ask why they did that! Because we can’t figure it out!!!
It looks so cute! I love how you tucked everything into that corner – it looks cozy and better than a full-sized bench placed somewhere else that might impede the flow of traffic. Great job, Kim and Snis!
Thank you! And thanks for saying it looks cozy and cute! A full size bench could only go where we have the table and mirror and I want to keep those there! 🙂
I’m curious – when you guys were house hunting, were you looking for a house you could fix up, or did you happen to really like this house and were willing to buy it even with all the work it needed to de-weird it? Your comment about the sidelite originally being in the coat closet (which I agree, wtf) made me think about how on House Hunters (which obviously is not the most accurate depiction of the house buying process and I’m sure is 99% made up, but just go with me here) people will complain about the color of the paint as a reason they don’t want to buy one of the places they see. Even if that’s not real, I’m sure people have passed on houses for much less than bizarre window placements and absurdly large half bathrooms.
Anyway, more to the topic at hand: this area is adorable! What a smart use of that space! I love the little side table and plant. I know, like, less than nothing about interior design, but to me the side table and plant makes the whole area look nice and complete 🙂
Steven 100% wanted a house to fix up. He really liked this one in way western Lake Co that we’d have to gut or even tear down and live in a trailer while we did the work. LOLOLOL no thanks. This house seemed more manageable, and I was in love with it on first tour. But we almost didn’t buy it because we thought we’d have to spend thousands of dollars building an ugly tower for cell service (our GC knew a company that could get us service with an antenna… and it worked great until 3 weeks ago). And back to your point, yes, we totally eyeroll to those comments on House Hunters when it’s something that’s totally fixable. Especially when it comes to paint color or carpet or something!
And thank you! I am glad you think the real plant looks good there because I wasn’t sure! That’s the plant my family sent me when Snow passed away so it’s a priority to keep it alive LOL (Steven takes care of all that!).
I love it!! Can’t wait to use it!
Thanks! I can’t wait for you to as well! The cats are hoping you will hang your coats up there so they can play with them.
What a cute and functional little space! I love it!
Thanks! 🙂
That looks great! I’ve been meaning to get a bench for our entryway too, but I’m also very lazy and vaguely believe that it helps my flexibility to bend over for my shoes. (Except that I always sit on the floor anyway…)
It’s funny how those small things make such a big difference in your home and even in your mood. I bet it makes you happy every time you put on your shoes to go out now.
Ha! I often think I am going to pull a muscle trying to get my shoes and gaiters on while wearing my running vest that is somehow leaking water all over me because bending over is squeezing the valve to open! So I love using it to sit and put my running shoes on! For non running I am super lazy and slip them on, already tied.
It really does make me happy to see it! Especially the stupid decorations on the shelf, because I feel like that turned out nice, and it’s not something I am naturally good at!