Coat Closet Update

Well it only took three months to finish our weekend coat closet project, but here is the finished product.  I primed the wood with two coats of primer and used one coat of white semi-gloss paint.  I probably should have used one coat of primer and two coats of paint, but since it's a shelf in a closet I wasn't too worried about it.  I love how it turned out! And I'm still debating what color to paint the inside of the closet, but that will have to wait until I finish the living room.

Coat Closet Organization

I've been plotting our coat closet makeover for a while.  It's amazing how getting to even the smallest projects seem to take forever or maybe I'm just impatient.  Our entryway is small and our shoes end up sprawled all over the floor and piled on the bottom of the coat closet.  It's been crying to be organized. In addition, we are trying to encourage Marco to be independent and get himself ready for school in the morning and to put away his own things.  One of the best ways to encourage this is to make a place for his belongings (backpack, shoes, hat, etc.) and make them accessible to him.  So here is the closet before (my hubby took everything out before I had a picture in all of it's cluttered glory).

Closet Before

Here's the construction crew and the dog who was left alone the construction crew for a one minute too many.

And here it is after (or at least 95% done).  The baskets I got at Michaels for $5.99 (on sale from $29.99).  The ones on the bottom are for shoes and the one on top is for hats, scarves, etc.  There's a perfect little space for Marco's backpack. Eventually, we'll get a second coat rack for the inside of the door that will hold Marco's umbrella, coat, and backpack.  I still need to prime and paint the shelves white and attach the molding on the bottom shelf.  Eventually, I'd also like to paint the inside of the closet to match the living room. I love it!  I keep finding excuses to open the closet and oh and ahh.

Closet After

Storage Baskets for Shoes and Hats

Treasure Hunts

Like most boys, my son loves to collect "treasures" when we're out on walks.  His favorites are sticks, rocks, more rocks, and acorns.  He would come home with his pockets full of treasures, which typically end up in some random place in the house or in the washing machine.  So I decided that these treasures needed a home, preferably outside.  We went to the local hardware store and picked up a few galvanized buckets: one for sticks, rocks, and shells.  I had some chalkboard paint laying around from another project and we used it to make labels for each bucket then we placed them by the front door.  Now the treasures have a home, the little guy loves his treasure buckets, and I love the organization with a bit of style.