Since I seem to be on a home-furnishings-post writing frenzy, I found one more item in my backlog of pictures.
Shortly after we moved in, I decided I needed something to hold coats and stuff over by the sliding glass door in the north hall and bought a bench/coatrack/thing online. It worked well enough, but became easily cluttered, plus Tenar liked to occasionally climb up to the top shelf and eat things he should not. I hardly ever used the bench because it would get covered with stuff as I used it as a landing space when coming in the door. So I went online again (this time to Overstock.com), and found a suitable option: a shelf with a row of hooks and a hanging bar. The measurements would fit the space and it wasn’t ugly, so I ordered it.
It arrived promptly and after I unboxed everything, I pulled out my drill, level, and a pencil and got to work. Soon enough it was in place and ready for use. As you can see in the pics below, it really did de-clutter the spot while providing the same amount of storage as the bench.
Or course without the bench of the old rack, I was missing a much-needed spot to set things when coming in that door, which is the way I enter or exit then house most often. Shortly after the shelf arrived, I was down at the local nursery (plants not human) and there were a couple of small tables that caught my eye. Since I had the truck and they weren’t expensive, I snapped them up and brought them home.
Once home, I took the wooden tops off (just had to undo a few screws) and sealed the tops with a couple of coats of polyurethane. Once that cured, I reattached the tops and set the tables just inside the sliding glass doors nearest my office.
An added bonus is that Tenar loves it. In the mornings, when I have coffee or tea in my wee armchair he likes to climb up to the top metal rung. In the past, a small play stand I’d made sat by the door, but this is a huge improvement–not just in terms of height, but the tables are so much prettier.
And what happened to the old hatrack/bench stand/thingy? Well, after I dusted it off a bit, I found someone to take it away and give it more use, thanks to Freecycle.org (one of my favorite sites for re-homing things).