Day 21: Working toward hallway makeover

Finally our hallway all done!
Most of the homes in the Netherlands have small hallway.And ours looks messy and shabby. It wasnt a mess. It was always clean.Papers and letters in order, shoes in proper place. But , it still lacked a refined look. Hallways are the first thing your visitor sees. So, the hallway project began a few weeks ago. What did this project involve?
1. Clearing the space. Relocating furniture,paper/letter and shoes area.
2. Wallpaper
3. Better coat hanger

1.I started by filling the holes left by the previous coat hanger. The coat stand we had before the make over was good but it had a "coats thrown over" look.
2. Bought a wallpaper that was classy and also matched the grey half painted area on the wall. I wanted this wall to be like a focus wall.
3.Fixing the wallpaper was not as easy as I thought. But I was glad that I had just one small wall.
4. Coat hanger for adult coats and kids coats fixed after a real battle between the brick wall and my husband. They have a love-hate relationship. Screws never seem to stay put. And if they stay it never comes off!
5. Found alternative to kids shoe rack: plastic crate hidden towards the wall.
6. The cupboard has scarves and shawls, and basket of "things to return". The library books are on the floor next to it.
7. A blue kids chest for kids sweaters, mittens, caps etc...

The work in progress:

Day 17: Hallway makeover planning

The hallway makeover is in progress. We sold off our coat hanger and all the coats are just piled on top of each other. The shoes which also hung in a separator shelf is dumped into a crate.

So whats the plan?

the wall is going to have a nice printed wallpaper. We already bought a nice coat hanging shelf from IKEA. there will be boxes above for shawls. Shoes will also be hung with the old system. There is an old kids chest where all the other sweaters and mittens and mufflers are kept. there may be a little tweaking required , I guess.

The mini command centre will have 3 baskets in them. One for things to return, newspapers and magazines of the week, and library books.

Plan ready! Implementation time!

Day 5: Hallway change in process

Yesterday was a "FULL" day. Had our regular Mums and Tots Bible study at home and as soon as they left, drove to the other end of Eindhoven and dropped Elijah at the daycare. Drove to the other side of Eindhoven and went to work. Only 2 hours of work but still was busy with plenty of work. Drove again all the way picked Elijah up, came closer to home and there you have it.. Elijah puked a little bit. So after changing his clothes and cleaning him up, drove to pick up Benjamin. Picked him up and on our way to the swimming pool, for his first lessons, I realized that my packed swimming bag didn't have any swimming trunks. Hmm.. so much for planning and keeping the car ready with things first thing in the morning. On my way back home , Elijah does on of those projectile vomiting stunts and.... need I continue?
Back home and straight into the shower. Finished cleaning him up and had to tell Benjamin that we couldn't make it to his first lesson. He seemed fine about it. After all the drama calmed down he asked if I was ready to go for his swimming lessons. Aww.. I felt bad .. and explained that we could only go next week.
And now, taking on the task of cleaning the car. The car seat was unsalvageable. I managed to get the car seat cloth out but still all the nooks and crannies. Oh my ! there was no use cleaning. Dumped the car seat and finished cleaning the car, not only the affected areas but gave a complete hoover. Once I get into one of these cleaning frenzies .. I go on! To the extend the cleaning moved from the car to the hallway. How did I manage to do that?
Started moving around coat stands and hallway shelfs and reorganizing. After I calmed down , I realized I hadn't fed the kids and they were obviously starved. And almost close to bed time.

Long story... I know.. but the point is the hallway is going through some changes and I will be posting its grand finale soon. Soon.

A before yet to happen make over scene: