I've never owned a new construction home before so maybe this is typical but we have a strange little alcove beside the front hall closet that is was a useless space. It was calling my name and begging for a makeover. I decided to add an area for the kids to hang wet coats and footwear on "those"days when the stuff is too wet to go straight to the closet.
I forgot to take a photo before I started but here is one from our tour before we bought the house. Ugly, I know but don't judge, people. Shortly I'll be showing you the before and after of this area.
Here's how it all went down.
1. Mark off your stripes to be painted and tape (hello, Frog Tape!).
Painting stripes is a bit mindless so I added a B to the areas to be painted black just to keep me on track.
2. Paint and remove tape. I still maintain that success with crisp stripes is in removing the tape immediately after your final coat is applied.
3. I found some 4 1/2" wood in our garage but use whatever you have. Cut to size keeping in mind that the sides need to be shorter by the thickness of the wood on the back wall. Prepare the walls with anchors and pre-drill the wood, then paint.
4. Add your hooks. I was toying with the idea of adding drawer pulls (as you can see from the photo above) but I thought my kids might end up with coats on the floor so stayed on plan with the hooks.
My Thoughts -- I could have added more hooks on the sides but I didn't want the area to be cluttered. 3 hooks works perfectly without the area being overrun with "stuff".
Here I get to showcase my favourite little pieces including the cat sketch created for us by our 13-year-old family friend.
