I know it's not the new year yet but it's getting close so I need to get ready asap otherwise it will never happen! I have a lot on my to-do list. Too much, probably since I can never get anything done. People say having 4 kids is easy. I think they are aliens ;p
Anyway, I received an awesome gift- a gift card to Home Depot to kick off my first project- creating an "entry" in the Kitchen. We don't have a foyer, a hallway or even a closet down here on our first floor. We have no hooks, no place to put our shoes except a large, but undersized basket in a completely inappropriate place. I've lived here for 7 years...what have I been doing??? We always use our back door (the kitchen) but drop our coats and shoes in the living and dining rooms (front and middle room). WHY?!
There is no seating in our kitchen because of a totally akward layout so one thing I really want is a storage bench to go under the window, along the wall where you walk in the back door (also the way to the door to the dining room. This would house select items (to be decided) that might include hats, gloves and shoes. It would allow someone to sit and talk to me while I spend half my day in that confined and miserable (but super-sunny!) room.
Another thing I plan to get is one of those Martha Stewart and/or Rubbermaid storage cubes. I need the one that is 2 wide (I measured already). I'd be putting this to the left of the storage bench. I won't be able to completely open my back door when I put this there but it will open wide enough for us. The trash can will fit right beside that, hidden behind the back door. I'll have 6 storage cubes. One will be for paper to be recycled. One will hold trash and grocery bags. If I can find good paper storage that fits in a cube 1 will be for paperwork that needs to leave the house, like school papers that need signed or records that need to be brought to appointments. Each kid would need their own box otherwise I'd get all sorts of messed up! Then I'll have 3 more left...what to do? This will also open up more storage in my kitchen cabinets which I need so badly!
To the right of the storage bench is where the dog stuff is. It won't go anywhere else so I need to make it a little nicer (it's one of the first thing you see walking into the kitchen- bleh) with a big plastic storage container for the food (instead of the messy bag) and, I don't know...a placemat or something. This is also where the coats and backpacks will go. I need at least 6 hooks- one for each of us. But we all have tons of coats- PA has very finicky weather! So I guess the rule will be 1 coat for each person and the rest go in their bedroom closets...If they are the double hooks there will be enough room for 3 backpacks. I'd like to get one that is on a rack so that it's easier to hang.
We have our phone/answering machine and a white board above the area that houses the trash can and future storage cubes. I want to get new key hooks because our key hooks are attached to our mail storage. That's in the dining room. Like I said before, we walk in the back door so the key hooks would make the most sense there. The mailbox is out front so the mail storage would probably work better in the living room, where the front door is.
Lastly I want a hallway runner. This will run from the back door to the dining room entrance. For two reasons: 1 is so the kids can wipe their darn feet and not ruin my hardwood floors. The other is to kind of separate the entry space from the kitchen.
This sounds easy enough, right? Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations for me? I can't wait to get started. I just hope I don't do what I always do- dream big but no action. I want to make my resolutions work! I have enough HD gift cards to at least get started so money isn't an excuse at the moment.
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