Quick Coat Rack

I was hoping the addition of the hallway coat closet would eliminate the pile of jackets in the family room.  Unfortunately, the kids still drop their coats as soon as they walk in the back door- on the floor, on the couch, wherever!

We looked at some storage/hook/bench solutions, but the space is limited by the back door.  We needed either something really narrow to go next to the bathroom doorway here...

Or something really shallow to go behind where the door opens.  Mike came up with this really simple solution...

We had the left over trim and knobs from the cabinet installation.  Mike drilled out where the knob screws were in the back, so that it would be flush against the wall once assembled.  He then used heavy duty screws to attach it to the wall (since we knew it would need to hold heavy coats).

After these photos were taken, we grabbed the little can of paint that  came with the kitchen cabinets for touch ups. A perfect match, so we were able to wood putty and then paint where the screws were.

The boot tray is doing a pretty good job of keeping the shoes contained to one spot.  I hope to remove it for late spring/summer, but for now it's been handy to keep the snow & mud off the hardwood floors.

Kitchen Complete!

After almost a year of construction, we're happy that the kitchen is pretty much done!  There are still some small items that I'll detail in another post, but it's functional and we're loving it!

View from back door

View from Dining Room doorway

The windows let in lots of light!

View from sitting at the kitchen table.

Reverse wall of kitchen- basement door on left, dining room door on right

Kitchen eating area

View from the corner between stove & sink

Reverse- island seating

mudroom area & half bath

mudroom area

 Here's a quick look at what else we accomplished with this project:

Added a Butler's Pantry... so much storage!

Exterior... we plan to get the house painted this spring.

The old kitchen became the dining room...

We moved the laundry room upstairs... still a lot of finishing touches to do, but no more running to the basement to turn the wash!

We added a new master closet & bathroom...

There's also several smaller items that deserve mention...
-the addition of the coat closet in the downstairs hallway
-additional lighting added to the hallway
-we gained storage space in the attic
-the third floor stairway landing was expanded, which makes it much roomier
-the ceiling of the master bedroom was replaced
-the family room now feels bigger since we moved the piano into the parlor (the old dining room)

Cat Door

One of the things we really liked about the old basement door was that we had installed a cat door in it.  This allowed us to keep the kitty litter down in the basement, and let the cat  come & go as he pleases.  It also gave him a place that he could escape, away from the playful puppy when he wished!

So now we were searching for a new place to put the cat door. Our first thought was in the hallway near the coat closet.  This would be right next to where the old basement door was.

Coat closet & hallway

Reverse- inside the basement stairway

Unfortunately, when Mike drilled a test hole, there was a beam in the way.  Then we began to re-consider anyway, since that little door would be in line of sight from the dining room.

Another option for getting the cat into the basement stairway were the family room wall- but that would be right next to the TV, and we weren't crazy about that.  So, we ended up cutting a hole in the brand new basement door that is in the new kitchen!

This seemed like the least noticeable and least offensive of the options.  Plus it would be fairly easy to reverse if we ever wanted to.

We now have a very happy cat!

Kitchen Backsplash

We've been having a really tough time trying to find a backsplash that we love for behind the stove.

In my mind, I had wanted a natural looking stone back there.  I wanted it to look like a hearth.  We looked at SO many options at the home stores, tile stores, even fireplace stores- but  couldn't find the right one.  They were either too brown in color, or too thick in depth, or the rocks were stacked too symmetrically, or cut too thin.

Since the list of outstanding "to do" items is finally getting shorter, we knew we needed to make a decision.

That's when we found this:

We both decided it's perfect!  The color is just right to go with the gray cabinets and countertops!

Mike was able to install it himself that afternoon- so it also saved us the time, cost and mess of having the masonry guy in.

I also noticed that the pattern goes nicely with our new curtains!

I should really take a new "After" shot during the day... you can see it was night when I took this one, compared to the daytime "Before" photo!  

Maybe when I take the final "Before & After" of the whole kitchen... we have the electricians coming this week to finish in-cabinet lighting and swap some of the switch assignments.