When you come into the house, you need a spot to take off coats, shoes, hats, scarves, etc.  This is one “drop zone” we LOVE.  We found this piece of furniture at a thrift store…and of course painted it!  I think the whole thing was meant to display stuff, but we turned the one area into a bench by simply adding some inexpensive cushions from Ikea.  The baskets are the perfect spot for hats, scarves & gloves (we need those here, especially today…cold & snowy in the chicago area!!).  We found the baskets at JoAnn Fabrics (half-off of course…being organized doesn’t have to be expensive, but we always like it to be cute…it is more fun that way!), and the hooks are just from target.  Nothing fancy, but it does the trick.  This is not a permanent spot to keep all of the coats & shoes in the house…there obviously isn’t enough room for that.  So, make sure the kids also have spots in their own rooms as well for putting their stuff away.  We will share more on Kid’s rooms soon!

If you live in an older home, closet space is sparce, so you have to take advantage of every nook & cranny in your house. This little nook was actually here, but it was just filled with glass shelves…they were great for displaying decorative items, but not very practical. These Custom built-ins are definitely a little more expensive, but were  worth the investment! It is great to be able to work with a carpenter to come up with the perfect plan that suits your specific needs. We still wanted some room for decorations on the top shelf, and made sure the bottom shelf was high enough for a pair of boots. It is important to think about exactly who and how you are going to use an area before having it made. There were several sketches before we came up with the final plan!