Mudroom {Part 2}

A few months ago I started my Mudroom makeover with a new coat of paint for the bench and the cubbies and a few new shoe bins. If you missed it you can read about it here.

Since then I have been slowly working on part two of the makeover.  A breadboard wall with coat hooks.  This is the blank wall pre-makeover.

And here is our post-makeover wall.

It is now all up and painted! There are hooks for all of our bags, coats, purses, etc. and I love it!  I could not be happier with the results.  Now on to the next step, cushions and valance.

New Crates for the Mudroom

I build a Shoe/Locker Combination unit when we lived in Ohio.  Then the kids were smaller and so were their coats, shoes and especially book bags.  It was a wonderful place to help organize the mess that is brought in from after school.  Although truth be told I still think the kids prefer to store their belongings on the floor.  It seems everything ends up there, or the kitchen table.

 When we lived in El Paso there was little space for the Unit so it was disassembled and used in two parts.  One in the Garage and one in a bedroom for toy storage.  Now here in South Carolina the kids are bigger and we once again have room for The Unit although it is still in two pieces.  After 11 years it was starting to show its age, as with any older unit it needed a bit of wood filler and a little makeup, ah.  I mean paint.  Emma and I moved everything out of the storage unit and hauled the two pieces out to the Garage for a little TLC.

I went ahead and painted them the same color as the cabinets in the mudroom, a lovely Dove White.  Makes them look nice and fresh, however not so good for scuff marks and stains

Notice the Bag, On the Floor.

I also purchased these crates from JoAnn's months ago, finished them up with the same Dove White.  I stuck some adhesive backed felt onto the bottom to keep it from scratching up my new paint job.  We also added the cutest little chalkboard onto the sides of the shoe crates.

A little $3 bottle of Chalkboard paint and everyone has their own bin. Well, except, Emma has two bins. 

 Trust me I am well aware of how "unfair" it is but she is a girl, and therefore she does have more shoes.  Whatch' going to do? This keeps everyone's shoes separated so mom doesn't have to listen to "Ew!  Mark put his shoes in MY bin".  Ta-Da we are done.  Okay.  Temporarily, I still want to put up board and batten or wainscoting in the mudroom, make a covered seat cushion and whip up a valance for the door window.  But for now.  We are done.

Creating of a different sort.

This past week, you may have noticed I was a bit absent from blogland. With the loss of my Long-arm machine I inadvertently freed up time for 'other' types of projects.  Namely, tiling my kitchen backsplash.  This is a project that I have wanted to do since we moved into this house 4 years ago. After a week of bringing home tile sample after tile sample, I decided on a travertine and glass tile combination.  The dark granite countertop and the light cream cabinets made tile choices difficult but I think I made the right choice.

It took me about a week to tile the entire kitchen backsplash.  From what I've read, I need to seal the travertine before we grout to ensure that the cleanup goes smoothly.  The travertine is quite porous and without a sealant the grout would likely adhere to every inch. Since there has been no word on my long-arm machine I am left with ample time on my hands to create beauty of an entirely different sort.