Easy Entry Remodel

Awhile ago I decided I wanted our entryway to be a bit more useful, so I grabbed my Husband and went on a mission.

We found a fairly inexpensive shoe storage piece from Ikea and went from there. It was incredibly easy to install (although, I did not have to do the work).

I think this new piece of furniture is incredible practical for this space. I was sick of shoes getting piled up by our front door and frustrated with the lack of color in our entry way. This gives us a hidden home for our shoes as well as a place for me to put a few decorative pieces. Certainly more welcoming than muddle shoes and bare walls.

Here is the finished product:

We keep Chapstick, writing utensils, wallets, gum etc. in this top drawer. We no longer have a desk downstairs, so this drawer works to keep certain odds and ends at our fingertips.

 My pop of color. Anthropologie vases = amazing.

We keep winter-type clothing in the top drawer: mittens, hats, scarves, doggie sweaters, etc. And in the bottom we put shoes that get left downstairs - that way they are not cluttering our entryway.

Blue garbage can to use for umbrellas.

Inspiration

I absolutely love this blog on organizing. I was recently introduced to a really fun website where you can put together your own inspiration board to use to decorate different rooms in your house. Since we have been making numerous changes to our home in the last month, I decided I would put a few boards together.

Kitchen Inspiration

Living Room Inspiration

Bathroom Inspiration

I used items I already had, as well as new inspiration. We have since made some progress on creating these styles in our home and I will gradually share those updates.

Stay tuned to see how these rooms came together in real life.

I'm Floored...

This week has been a busy week filled with moving furniture, boxes, ripping out carpet, sanding and painting - not to mention the endless trips to Home Depot. Needless to say, we are exhausted!

I have been so excited to update our home with new floors (anything but carpet!). After doing my research and talking to people who in my mind are experts, we decided to go with Laminate flooring. The reasons we chose to forgo on the hardwoods are because hardwoods can scratch easier and they are more expensive. In the long run we hope to use our house as a rental, and spending thousands on hardwood floors probably isn't the best investment for us. We also found that the quality of Laminate floors is actually pretty good. I am no expert, but sometimes I can't even tell the difference!!!

Anyway, onwards to our flooring adventure. To save money we ripped out everything ourselves (we being my Husband and his Dad) and had the floors ready to go. This took hours. We did decide however, that paying someone to install was well worth it. Lucky for us, Home Depot was having a special where installation was only $400 no matter how many square feet you are getting installed. Wonderful!

Since we had to remove all of the trim to get the flooring installed, we decided to repaint. I did not realize what a chore this would be, but the results were totally worth it!


Before: Although we did have carpet, it is ripped out in this picture.

 Trim painting project:

Had to sand it all before painting...sad story.

 

 Trim Before:

 Trim After: Huge difference!

This was a family project - we all did our part.

 

After:

I am relieved to be able to cross this project off my list! We also made a few more changes this weekend that I am very excited to share (that will be coming soon!).