The Hardest Working Hallway

Did you see?  My little hallway was at 320*Sycamore last Friday!   So so much fun!  I am re-posting it here!


When you walk in from our garage we have the teeniest little hallway.  I dream of having a mudroom, but that isn't going to happen with this house.  Clearly, though, the system we have isn't working.

Let me tell you what isn't working:

1. The hooks are way too little and too close for the coats/backpacks/diaper bags.  The hook/board/thingy is starting to come off the wall.
2. The shoes are just kicked off.
3. The hallway is too short for the runner I put down there.  I have it folded at the end and I trip on it as I go into my laundry room.  Not good
4. It's ugly.

So after talking it over with my husband, we decided that this was actually a hallway worth changing.  It has a pretty important job and we need to make sure it functions!  

Now look at it:

There are no windows and it opens to a garage, so it is very hard to get any natural light for pictures.  Sorry.

The most important thing we did was add hooks - and lots of them!  These guys aren't going anywhere.  My husband took strips of wood and routed the edges to make it look nicer.  The boards are screwed into the studs to ensure strength.  We chose big hooks on the top and little hooks on the bottom.  We staggered them for function.  My kids can easily reach the bottom row of hooks and there is no excuse for them not hanging.

I added the stripes because I wanted to.  I love them and it makes me very happy looking into the hallway.  While I was at it, I decided to paint the door:

Isn't it super fun?  I took out the runner and will list it on Craigslist.  We currently have nothing on the floor, but I'm hoping that might speed up our desire to lay down tile right here.  The shoes have been banned to the garage.  My father in-law-built cubbies out there a couple of years ago and we need to take advantage of them.  See the cubbies here.

Another favorite is the addition of a sensor light.  When we are coming in from the garage, my kids don't like walking into a dark home.  Then they stop at the door and we all get piled up while they wait for me to reach over them and turn on the light ( and you know I usually have my hands full of groceries, or library books, or  our baby!)  My husband was skeptical, but we now LOVE this light!

So for now, the dark dreaded hallway of doom has become the little hallway that could.

We've fixed our problems and gave it a little personality while we were at it!

Thanks Melissa for letting me share our latest project.  I totally believe if it isn't working, don't just live with it!  Find a better solution and make it work for you!  I hope to see you over at my blog, Ducks in a Row.  I'm trying to live a balanced life and you'll see a little of everything over there - decorating, parenting, exercising, organizing.  See you soon!