Entryway Coat Rack and Storage Bench

There are many things I love about my home, but there had been a bare space in the entryway I never did anything with until now. I had been pining over this Pinterest pin from a creative mom over at theidearoom.net. I thought her bathroom towel rack shelf would make a great coat rack in my entryway.

I decided to have my hubby make the coat rack shelf with crown molding for me because I couldn't find anything with the right dimensions online or in stores. I wanted the coat rack to be substantial and to be hung above a 3-drawer storage bench. I purchased this bench when it was on sale at Target.

I recovered the plain cushion with ultra soft cheetah fabric found at Hobby Lobby.

Judd built the coat rack using this tutorial, but altered the dimensions for a custom fit for our space. Next, we primed and painted the coat rack shelf with the same products we used on our kitchen island (shared in my post here) It's a deep, rich, rusty-red color. It only appears bright in this picture because I used the flash on my old camera. In reality, the color is more of a brown-red.

We attached these coat and hat hooks from Home Depot, and our entryway space ended up looking like this:

The girls each have their own drawer in which to keep their shoes. They feel a sense of pride in having this responsibility and Judd and I enjoy fewer tripping hazards left on the floor.



Bye-bye empty space; hello stylish organization.

Shoe Organization - A Way to Reuse Toddler Toy Rings

About a year ago I decided my three girls would keep the bulk of their shoes in a faux leather bin sitting on our dryer. When we exit our home through our laundry room, the girls' shoes are easy to grab. It also means when we return, their shoes come off and go right in the bin so as not to drag grass and dirt through the house.

That's all well and good except for one little problem -- flip flops. We love them around here and in glancing I quickly counted eleven pair. Today it dawned on me to reuse the old toddler rings we have buried in the bottom of our toy boxes. Do you have any of these guys laying around?

I simply slipped the flip flop straps through the little slit in the toy ring.

Now we don't waste time rummaging through the bin trying to find the flip flop's mate. When we're wearing our flip flops, the empty rings are attached to the rim of the bin, ready and waiting for us to return.

I can throw all the "good enough to wear next year" flip flops in our summer clothes storage and won't have to waste time matching them up later I may even try this tip with their regular shoes too. I may have to fight my girls for these rings though since they like to wear them as bangle bracelets.

Costume Clothes Rack

My three year old daughter, Sophie, loves to dress up in little costumes. She changes clothes at least five times a day. She has an assortment of fairy wings, tutus, twirl skirts, a Chinese Kimono style outfit, several gymnastic leotards, and a few princess dresses. Of course she also has the bunny ears, rock star headphones and gloves, jewels, shoes, and tiara accessories as well.





Originally, I kept all of these costumes in her closet. I got tired of having to pick up all her regular clothes which became disheveled while she played with her dress-up clothes. I built her a kid-sized clothes rack for her costumes and moved it into the corner of the playroom.

This project cost about five dollars and only took about 12 minutes to make. All of the clothes rack parts are made from 3/4" PVC pipe and joints found at my local Lowe's store.

The rack requires two T-shaped joints and six elbow joints. I had two long sections of PVC pipe I cut up for the legs, supports, and clothing bar.



At first I tried to cut my long PVC pipe down into smaller sections using a saw and miter box. That proved a bit challenging.



Fortunately my husband handed me this nifty little red-handled wire thingy that cut through the pipe like a hot knife through butter - eeeeeeasy.



After I cut my pipe lengths, I just stuck everything together. I didn't glue it because I want to be able to disassemble it.



Sophie loves having easy access to all her costumes. She spends at least an hour a day dancing like a princess in her playroom with her sisters, me, or her daddy.

Organized Pantry

My friend, Kate, requested a photo tour of my pantry because she thinks it's organized and neat. I didn't think it was anything special, but here you go, Kate!



In my pantry everything has its designated spot. I pulled out some of the containers I use so you can see them. I purchased them at Target. I put baking goods and tea packets in the glass canisters. I group my rice packets together in a plastic basket. Another basket has snacks, another pastas, and another groups things like breakfast bars and granola. I store animal crackers, long grain rice, goldfish crackers, etc. in the large pourable plastic containers.



My pantry resides in the corner of my kitchen, so it has a deep corner. I fill the corner with square items, like boxed chicken broths, aluminum foil, or a square storage basket.



I keep my frequently used, appliances on the lowest shelf. I keep things we rarely use up on the highest shelf (although you can't see the top shelf in this picture, we have a beef jerky maker/food dehydrator stored up there that my husband just had to have. We've used it once...in three years - ha).



We store paper plates, plastic ware party supplies etc. in the three drawer plastic chest. It's a great way to use up all of that wasted space beneath the lowest shelf. I hang my aprons on a cup hook I screwed into the wall. We keep our shredder in our pantry next to the trash so we can easily shred junk mail with our info on it (like credit card offers) and throw the harmless junk mail in the trash.



I collect my plastic Target and Walmart trash sacks in the animal print bag. We use these sacks up all the time as small trash bags for the twins' diapers, trash can liners, trash sack for the car, etc. The broom and dustpan are conveniently stored and ready to be used (after every meal and most snacks). Three little kids sure can make a mess on the floor.




That completes the tour of my pantry. What do you do to organize your pantry or cupboards?