It’s nine months (to the day!) since I posted about the coat rack and bench that we made for our foyer:
A couple of people have asked me if it looks the same now as it did back then. Hahahahahahahaha! It does not. (Really, I’d feel pretty silly if we made that big old coat rack with all those hooks and then just kept one baby jacket on it).
So I thought now, in the aftermath of the coldest week in twenty years in Georgia, would be a good time to check in and see how it’s holding up. Keeping it real, as the young folks say.
I spent, literally, less than thirty seconds hanging a couple of coats that had been tossed on the bench and leaning Ari’s bag neatly against the wall, but other than that this is how the coat rack actually looks in real life on a typical winter day around here:
Definitely crowded, but not a complete disaster. When we have people coming over, I take 5 or 10 minutes to neaten everything up and pare it down to one coat per family member. But overall I’m pretty happy with how contained it’s keeping all the coats, dog leashes, shoes, diaper bags, baby carriers, etc. for our coat closet-less family of six people + three dogs.
And! We finally have baskets to replace the dollar store dishpans! It took me a very long time to realize that the odds of finding four matching baskets that I liked, just the right size for the space at the thrift store were quite low. But I finally accepted this, sucked it up, and ordered these Spectrum wire storage baskets from Amazon. They were around $13 each, so way more than $4, but also way better than my dishpans. I like that they’re wire, so all the shoe dirt will fall onto the floor and get vacuumed up instead of collecting in the basket. And the bench is stained instead of painted, so I don’t need to worry about them chipping paint off.
Oh, look, I should have swept the floor under the bench before I took the picture. Keeping it REAL!
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it might be a little crowded but it is doing its job!
Love “keeping it real”posts. It’s so functional!
I love the wire baskets. We are using the fabric cube things, and find they are all overflowing this time of year. Do you have a second set to swap out for summer stuff?
set of baskets? nah–there’s a lot of overlap between summer and winter shoes here anyway since it’s sometimes 65 in the middle of January…
I hate when southern people talk about the weather. You want some ice? I can send you some ice.
30% chance of snow here Wednesday! You can laugh at me when it’s 95 every day for 2 months this summer.
Those wire baskets were a good call. That’s not a bad price for them either since vintage locker baskets are hella expensive and good luck finding 4 matching ones. Functional and beautiful!
I’m drooling over your baskets!
Oooh, I need some of those wire baskets! I love how you kept it real too! I think sometimes people forget that we actually live in our houses and they can’t all be staged like they’re in a magazine 24/7.
No, you shouldn’t have swept under the bench. It would have made me feel like I’m the only person with dust bunnies under and behind the shoe rack. And that would have made me feel uncomfortable.
(I hope, dust bunny is really a term that gets used? The dictionary told me so. We call them “wool mice” here… ;))
Love, Midsommarflicka
lol–people definitely call them dust bunnies! wool mice is adorable, though–I might have to start calling them that 🙂
This makes me think I totally need one of those. Looks super functional WHILE being cute.
Love those wire baskets you got for the bench. It looks like this spot is working perfectly for you! I still love it 9 months later 🙂
Love that you posted this. They still look great with all those coats – being so useful! My poor hooks look worse than this, but at least tehy are being used. Maybe I’ll share them someday.
You guys probably need a lot more layers of outerwear where you are, so you have a good excuse for crowded hooks!