The toughest part about moving for me? It’s right now. The establishing of a new normal. Finding a routine. Figuring out a pattern to our days. I know that mom sets the tone for the home and this momma thrives best with order around her. You know: a place for everything {and hopefully everything makes it to it’s place}. Beyond that, I find that for my family, I need to take the time to look and observe what is needed to help us function best…and then make the changes. One of the first things on our to-do list was a new coat closet makeover.
We are headed into winter and that means we need access to all the coats, boots, hats, and mittens. These items are needed every single day. The mud room in our farmhouse was absolutely perfect for storing all of those things. But, moving to this house means downsizing…and that includes no longer having a huge mud room. And that’s okay.
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But, you see, there was a coat closet in our house. We just chose to remove it. Say what? In our defense, it was directly inside the main door and it made for a tight entrance. I hope that we are able to host many guests in our home and it’s always a bit awkward to squeeze through a front door. So, out with the old coat closet!
And this is what it has looked like for a few weeks. Ugh.
How do we have a coat closet if we tore it out? Well, this house has had a little {weird} secret. Directly across from our front door {I say front door, but it’s really on the side of our house…more on that another time} is a closet just about the perfect size for a coat closet. But it wasn’t a regular closet…
Let’s back up to when we first began looking at homes. My family loves to assign a name to each home. It usually has to do with something odd about the house. This helps us all recall each house easier because remembering all those addresses isn’t…well, it’s not as much fun. What name did we use for this house {the one we eventually bought}? I’m not even sure I want to say it…how about I show you? And completely ignore the image of my husband in this closet. I hope it isn’t ingrained in your mind forever, but apparently I was in denial about this to the extent that this is literally the only photo I took.
Did you guess that nickname for our home?
“The Toilet Closet” house. Ugh. What a way to start, right? We were a bit thrown off by this at our first walkthrough. But then the wheels and plans started going. And…I am so happy to say that we no longer have a toilet in a closet!
So where did it go? I’ll get to that in the near future, but I did share a sneak peek of our plan in a previous blog post. {Click HERE.}
Now that the toilet is out of the closet, it is ready for a coat closet makeover! Friends…those are words I never thought I’d say.
The hubby worked his magic using wood that we already had on hand and built a coat rack. I threw in an old shoe rack and we’re calling it a day on this coat closet makeover.
And bonus…there is a light in here because…ahem, it used to be a bathroom. Oh and there is a little latch in case you ever want to lock yourself in the coat closet. Ha!
At some point, I will pretty up the coat closet, but right now: we’ve got bigger projects on hand. And that includes…our front door entrance. Oh my!
I do have some ideas for this space and they include being intentional and considerate of those who enter our home. Obviously, the long terror-inducing nails will need to go…and the 2×4 frame needs to be dealt with. Oh and the floor that has some wood temporarily in place to keep us from tripping needs a permanent solution.
A larger rug, a small bench, and coat hooks are a part of the plan. For now, this works and we are slowly…little by little…creating a home that we {and others} can thrive in.
Now tell me: any odd things that came in your home? Did you adjust and live with them? Or make changes? And please tell me that we aren’t the only “toilet closet” house out there! 😉
xo,
Leigh
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