"Mud Room"

The entrance from the garage into the house (aka. the entrance that we use 95% of the time) is a small foyer. On the right is a double closet.  On the left is the washer and dryer.  Now you can imagine walking in with 2 adults, 1 toddler and 1 dog; things get cramped, especially during winter when there are coats and shoes with which to contend.  I have been seeing on Pinterest and various other sites where people take out closet doors, install hooks on the wall, and build a bench.  I thought, well I can do that!  And so I did.

I took before and after pictures, but somehow I just moved the before pictures and I can't find them.  Anyways - you know what a closet looks like.  Jeff and I removed the doors and hardware (except one bracket which is totally stuck on the floor).  The closet was tan on the inside and a pale yellow outside.  I took down the top shelf, painted it green (leftover paint from our bedroom at the condo) and raised the shelf about 8 inches.  I added hooks on the back walls, and then built and painted the bench.  By myself.  Because sometimes I do things that are kind of awesome (but only sometimes).  In my dream world, all the stuff up above on the shelf would be in matching baskets like in all the pictures on Pinterest, but let's be real here.  Baskets are strangely expensive and I am a cheapskate.

All in all, it turned out pretty awesome.  And it's so much more open without those doors.  In the winter I plan to put a utility rug under the bench for boots.