Day 22: 30 Days to Blogville or Bust

A Little Home Improvement

There are a lot of feet in our house. Big and Small. We are blessed to have a truly beautiful mud room that up until recently has had the unfortunate condition of being the largest tripping hazard in the county. Shoes would come off, flying, and land where they may...usually right in front of the entryway to the house. It was a nasty condition and had bothered us for some time. But I knew holding out for the right "shoe system" would be a wise choice since I really didn't have any good ideas on how to aesthetically corral a family's worth of shoes anyhow. 

Then one day a free and BIG cabinet came our way and it just clicked! Pardon the not-so-great "before" pictures. We were so excited to tackle this project we started before thinking of documenting it. 

It's a huge and heavy wooden cabinet with big wooden doors. It was ok enough but it was a lot to look at and made the mud room feel "heavy" if that makes any sense. At first I though of putting some pretty wallpaper on the doors or something but quickly realized how messy that would get. So Greg started removing the inner panels for me with a huge question mark look on his face and a plea from me to just "trust me". In this picture above you see the first panel removed.

Here are three of the panels and original knobs removed. And then I just knew what I was going to do. A quick run to the hardware store for some hardware cloth...

and voila! Shoe cabinet!

And a mud room that isn't a mess to walk through but a joy to be in!

You can see in this photo too that we replaced the old ceiling fan that was in the room when we first moved in with this antique one I found at an estate sale. It's really cool. Punched Tin.  And quite possibly one of my favorite finds is this head board bench I picked up at a local used furniture place for peanuts.

Total cost for the project $18. $15 for the roll of hardware cloth and $3 for the new knobs (which I still have to paint) We did this in June but I wanted to wait to see if we'd actually use the cabinet or not and I have to say the mudroom is now always organized. I think it helps to be able to see the shoes inside so you know where to find the shoes you are looking for with out having to open the whole thing. It's great for the kids. All their shoes are on the bottom two shelves and the visibility is a huge help for them as well. Honestly, I don't think we'd use it if we had to constantly search and guess. The hardware cloth was just the right fix for this cabinet.  It was on it's way to a landfill by the way when a friend stopped at our house first knowing that I love to modify furniture and thought I might have an idea for it. She was right and I love her for it!

Comments

[karin]

Your "mudroom" looks so nice, I might well reserve it for an overnight trip one of these days. :)

[jess]

Wonderful! My entryway is MUCH smaller than yours, but this might be the inspiration I need to figure out some sort of organization for it.

[Kathy]

Mr. Spidey probably already tells you this, but I think you're totally awesome! How ingenius and pretty. I'm so jealous; someday, maybe, I can aspire to put such nice touches on my home.

[Kara]

Oh wow! I love your style. That shoe cabinet is so great. You guys are so handy. And that bench...LOVE!

[Renee]

Brilliant! Pretty and functional. Well done. :)

[Abi]

Thanks Jess! I'm sure a simple modification like this would work with any size cabinet. Even an old dresser if you have a lot of flats...

[Abi]

Aw, thanks so much Kathy!

[Abi]

Thanks Kara! That bench was a super-find for me. Love it. It seems quite simple to recreate and there are so many old headboards available...

[Abi]

Thanks Renee! That was the challenge. I mean they are just shoes. Sometimes I want to pull the cabinet into the dining room and store all our art supplies in it but it weighs a ton so that is where Greg draws the line ;)

[mayaluna]

Thanks for inviting me over, Abi! I'm not getting around much these days (because of summer busy-ness), and an invitation is always so appreciated. My mom and I love both pieces in your incredible mudroom. I just spent way too much time looking at your set on flickr of your home... before. How amazing! I would love to see it now that you're in it. Have a beautiful weekend... with your family and chickens!

[nova]

I have never coveted a piece of furniture the way I covet your new SHOE CABINET (!!!?). It is gorgeous....your front entry is gorgeous. Can I live in your home?

[Abi]

If you bring your wheel and teach me how to spin it's a deal! Plus I think Little Sir and Disco will have super fun with Jorn and Simonne :)

[Keana]

I want a mud room! Love the shoe chest!

[Abi]

Thanks Keana!

[Abi]

Thanks Maya! I was just thinking the same thing when I linked to the first set when we bought the house. It's time to show what we've done to the place. Of course, as you know, it's always a work-in-progress :)

[Barb]

Awesome! I would store yarn in it, heh. Lucky score!

[Abi]

Ha! The thought certainly crossed my mind ;)

[Monkey Lobster]

we are re-doing our bathroom right now and our mud-room is full of toilets and boxes. our house is a disaster because of it. although our mud-room is tiny and can't imagine living with kids without one.

yours looks great, i love that you can see what you're looking for. and the feet in your home will only get bigger.

[leslie]

oh, how i would love a mudroom!!!
and i am in LOVE with that bench..... your home is lovely.

[Abi]

Thanks Leslie :)

[Abi]

Thanks!

Oh, I love re-do's but it's hard when a room as essential as a bath is uprooted.

So true about mudrooms and kids!

[Amy@ProgressivePioneer]

This is such an inspiring project. We're all about giving old things new life around here and these pictures make me want to find some unloved piece of furniture to turn it into something fabulous!

[Abi]

Thanks so much Amy. I love re-purposing old furniture. I should post more projects since there are a bunch around our house. I'm still thinking about your table! Love it!

[A wonkey Donkey]

You are truly blessed for that mud room. I would be thrilled to have that shoe storage in my bedroom. so pretty

[Dahlia]

I, too, love your mud room, Abi. And that shoe cabinet! It's great how it's so functional, and your shoes can breathe and dry out, so they don't get damp and smelly!