Oh, Vera, You're So Fine

I love to wander through fabric stores looking for prints that catch my eye. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon this gorgeous VERA BRADLEY fabric!!


I knew it would be perfect for an apron, so I bought everything they had left. I managed to squeeze two aprons out of what I had, and one is sold already! The other one will be for sale on etsy. It was really hard not to keep this one!

Funny story, I was at Michael's the other day, and I saw a lady with a purse made out of the same fabric. I think she thought I was crazy when I told her how much I liked it!

A New Entry - Part 2

Yesterday I showed you what our entry looked like on Saturday morning before we got to work. I also explained the huge need for better storage and organization. As a reminder, here's what it looked like before:


We decided the best plan was to build from the bottom up. Because we were incorporating a bench, we wanted to be sure the base was sturdy enough. Jason worked with the existing trim because it gave him a nice starting point.

The bottom slots are perfect for bigger baskets to hold shoes and whatever else needs to be kept off the floor. I'm trying to decide if these black boxes are what I want. Once it's all together, they might stand out less, which is what I'm hoping for.

Here's where we left off last night. I'm going to use the upper cubby area for hats, mittens, sunglasses, etc. I just have to find the right baskets to maximize the storage.

Jason has done a great job building this thing, even though our house slants drastically toward our street. I'm amazed at how much he's had to compensate for that.

I'm excited to show you my idea for what has always been wasted space in here too!

A New Entry - Part 1

Since we bought our house a year and a half ago, I've had dreams for the back entry. There are many things about our house that need help, and this was a big one. For starters, the entry is not very big. It's also dark, has steep steps into the kitchen, and, if you're not careful, you'll fall right down the basement stairs. We, as a family, have a lot of coats, shoes, and other junk that tends to get piled up in this teeny, tiny, cluttered space. As a solution, I dreamed up a built-in shelf/cubby/bench area.

This is what we started with on Saturday. Fortunately, since my mom will probably read this, I don't have a true before picture with the normal pileup of junk on the floor and the former wall hooks.


To give you an idea of what we were working with in the beginning, where the blue paint is, we had a huge board with five hooks for our coats. About halfway down the wall on the left, I hung a set of hooks for Ellen's coats. On her hooks was a plastic sand bucket to hold all of her sunglasses and the occasional hat and/or mittens. The pine boards lead down to our basement. On this side of the entry (where you see that black triangle) are another couple of hooks that we use to hang our keys and my purse.

The original color of the entry is a sand color. It's a nice, neutral color, but I was hoping for something a little lighter to brighten the space.

We played in the entry all weekend, and I'm very happy with the changes. Tomorrow I'll show more pictures of the progress. I can't believe how different the whole house feels, now that our main entry is more inviting!