Work in the Mudroom

 

We’ve been working on our mudroom coat closet.

It’s so exciting!

Since there are still many projects left to do at Kenilworth, we have to prioritize them one at a time.  Cold weather has come, and we’ve had to drag out coats for everyone, so the coat closet seemed the most practical thing to do next.

 

Here’s what we’ve had in the room up to this point.  Notice the only place for coats is to hang them from “s” hooks off of any spare space we could find on an old wire shelving rack.

 

 

And of course you are probably thinking there is no way that wire shelving rack could possibly accommodate coats for 9 people.

And you are right!

 

In addition, to the coat conundrum, we have had a seriously sad shortage of shoe storage...

 

And of course you can see the large colorful fabric bin holder, which we used to have in the garage at the old house.  (If only I had chosen cubbies that were more neutral, or all the same color.) Since it contains all the winter hats, scarves, and mittens, it really had to be in a convenient place.  So we laid it sideways on the shelving rack.

 

It’s been a little hard on my eyes to walk through here and see it all for over a year now.  So I’ve been eagerly hoping we could save enough to start this project.  At last, we have.

 

Although it’s not finished yet, I thought you would enjoy seeing our progress so far.

 

 

First, Glenn and Luke screwed two large wood panels into the wall, and along each perpendicular side of the closet.

 

 

 

Next, they laid out each of the vertical boards on the floor and glued and stapled them together where they lay….

 

 

 

Then they raised the whole section, which is the face of the closet, to meet the back and side panels.

 

 

 

And finally, a “floor” was built for the lowest shoe shelf.

 

 

We couldn’t take the closet all the way to the right side of the wall due to the sidelight which surrounds the door, and the return for the curtain panels, so we left a narrow space.  This works out to be a great spot in which to store our small stepladder, and possibly another taller wooden ladder which we could pull out to access the attic space. 

(Honey, I’m not sure I told you about my great idea for a tall wooden ladder yet, but….  I have a great idea!)

 

 

We’ve been able to make more progress since these were taken, so I’ll get those up soon!

 

Have a great day!