More time, less time...

Day care is working out great. The girls like it. I like it. And I all of a sudden have time on my hands! Of course, the more time you have, the more you try to do, so in the end, I'm as frazzled as always. But, at least it's good frazzled and I'm getting things accomplished!

On top of my list since we moved is has been our entry way. It's small, and since we have no mudroom or entry closet, it needs to do double duty and hold our shoes, jackets and walk-in-the-house-castoffs. We had tons of hooks and baskets, but no matter what we did, it looked crappy and crowded. I knew we needed an 'entryway system', but they are pricey (and I am cheap). The 1st pic below is the Pottery Barn set that I wanted, but, even on sale, it's $600 (plus shipping). So I set out to do it cheaper. AND I DID!

I found the cubby shelf and bench on Amazon. It's MDF (a.k.a. not real wood), but it looks good and definitely does the trick! Both pieces, including shipping, were $200.

Then, I bought foam and burlap to make the bench cushion. ($5 for burlap, $9 for foam, and it couldn't have been easier. I am not much of a sewer so I did the quick/easy staple method and it worked out great. Took about half an hour.) I got the baskets 50% off at JoAnn's Fabrics and I found the throw pillow on clearance at Target. All said and done, I spent $45 on accessories, making the total cost of my awesome and functional new entryway system a meager $245! Not too shabby, especially considering the $600 pieces at Pottery Barn didn't include baskets, pillows, or a bench cushion!

And voilà... Finished product. I LOVE IT!

Next Project: DOOR KNOBS! This entire house has ugly shiny gold lever door handles and I hate them. Time to make the switch...