big reveal

 
 Now I know you have been on the edge of your seats waiting for the big reveal after Friday's teaser.

 So now you get the very long winded and detailed story,
or if you don't want to read it all just scroll through the pictures and
leave a nice comment at the bottom of the page!

This little activity has been in the pipeline for nearly a year and in my head a lot longer than that.

It was not that the actual making of it took that long but more that I had to wait patiently, oh so patiently, for VCH to be finished with some other things on the "TO DO LIST" before he could tackle this one.

The hallway that is at the front of the house is also the hallway between the little ones bedrooms and the bathroom.

The younger boys are not the tidiest creatures and in order to create some order amidst the chaos,
I wanted a station where they and The Girl could store their shoes and socks and hats.
I love the concept of a mudroom but have nowhere to put one in my house.
So I have had to create something similar in the entry way.

 A long time ago I saw a shelf/table that is sold by Target with storage baskets underneath. 

When I showed VCH the shelf and explained my ideas, he said it was not worth the money and that he could make it much cheaper.

Great!- that was back in May 2011 when we took a trip to Coffs for his birthday.

Now the rule is when you want to make something that has storage baskets you need to have the baskets first.

The very next week one of the cheap shops happened to have the exact baskets I was after and they were half price so I bought 3 small (for socks) and 3 large (for shoes), the colour wasn't the best but I was not too worried as I knew I could always paint them.

So the kids filled them with their shoes and they moved from one place to another for the next 11 months!

One night on the way home from Bible study B2 and I found a bedhead that had been put out for the council clean up.

We hauled it home and it was put in the shed.
I knew immediately what I was going to use it for- my hallway bench.

Finally my patient wait was rewarded when VCH asked me what would I like him to do next.

 Of course I jumped at the chance and asked him if he would build the shoe box bench for the hallway.
 VCH discovered when he went to measure up that the width of the bedhead meant that we could now fit 4 baskets across.
So he made it to measure.

 
Now I need to wait until the cheap shop gets some more baskets in.
I painted them a dark grey - well actually I just painted the front so I could see if I liked it,
which I did until I got the fabric for the seat.
I may go back and paint them a dark putty colour, but I will live with them a while before I decide.

  I got busy cleaning up the old bedhead, I gave her a good scrubbing and a good sanding,

 

and she was done.

Now I had an idea that I would put some hooks of some description above the bench and perhaps a mirror or something.
 The one I had bought at IKEA, when we were there in Jan 2011
(I told you this was a long time in the planning)
didn't quite cut it- it looked too small.

 VCH kindly agreed to make a nice shelf that we could put the hooks underneath.

We browsed my pinterest board and came up with a design.

 Last weekend he whipped it up.

I painted it and put in 4 hooks that I got off the IKEA one.

We put it up and YUCK
 I had painted it gloss white thinking that the contrast would be fine.
 It wasn't right, it looked stark and lacking in character.

So, I whipped out the paintbrush and the last of the 10L tin of Antique White USA and repainted it in-situ.
 When it had dried, out came the sander and away I went.

 Voila now it matched the bedhead.

 

The other week when shopping with a friend in Coffs Harbour, I bought some nice fabric at Spotlight and some foam at Clark rubber and made a cushion for the seat.
I teamed it with some cushions I already had and it was looking sweet.

 
Somewhere along the line I started thinking about old window frames and went off to the local 2nd hand building yard, they had a heap of windows and a few days later VCH accompanied me back there so we could pick a suitable one together. 
A good wash and a light sand was all that was needed .

 

So after that very long story, here they are all together- what do you think?
I wasn't too sure about the window on top at first but I have grown to like it.
 It is very hard to take photos of this as it is in a narrow hallway.
This photo is taken from in the little boy's room.

 
 This one from the sewing room

 
 and this one from the end of the hall.

I am in love, and now I have something akin to a mantle to decorate- yay!!

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