Jeremiah and I were sitting in our living room one day a few months ago and I said "We should really figure out something to do with that big chunk of wall behind the front door." Then Jeremiah responded with "We should really figure out a way to hang up all our stuff before the new school year starts and we have backpacks and coats and scarves..." Then we both looked at each other and new we had figured it out! I have no idea how/why we didn't think of it sooner.
We don't have a hall closet by the front door (a big downfall of this house) and we tried a halltree, dresser, and a free standing coatrack and none did it for us.
My mind starting turning and we hit the HomeDepot in search of inspiration. We ended up getting three 8-foot long boards and some easy gel stain. I stained them the next day and then stood back trying to figure out a fun design. I thought of arrows and then it hit me to have a long arrow with color and definition painted on each board. I reached out to my very talented art friend, Kristen, and she agreed to paint them for us. We hit Michael's crafts and picked out about 20 colors from the stencil paint selection and Kristen went to work.
We loved them so much and hung them as soon as we got them home!! We found two fun over-the-door hangers at UrbanOutfitters and cut off the part that goes over the door so they would be flat and only about 3 inches deep. Then attached them so there would be hooks at the kiddo's level and one for the taller folks.
We also added a clear mail holder (its actually a file holder from Office Depot) to drop bills, magazines, paperwork from school, and other mail. Total cost: $88.00
Here are some more peeks (I couldn't get very good pictures of them so sorry!):
Speaking of "backpacks"...here is little miss Paetyn on her first day of Kindergarten:
:)
