Goodbye Closet. Hello Alcove.

I wish it could just go like this:

We turned our hall closet into a neat little, functional alcove.

But ... of course I'm a lot more random than that. It goes more like this:

I bought a bench because it was a total bargain. It didn't fit where I wanted to put it. So the hall closet doors came off faster than you can say "just return it" & a major random project began. No one saw it coming ...

Yeah. That's more like it. I'm more of the "Plan B" type. :)

But, truthfully, I think my mind has been subconsciously planning on this. See... we didn't need a closet in which to hide all our coats. We needed a place to put all the things we use on a daily basis: backpacks, purse, coats, etc. Our little house doesn't have a landing area ... so the items we use everyday were getting draped over the bannister, the dining room chairs & the counters. It's super annoying. After 2 years in this house, I think I am finally realizing what some of our needs are.

So, down came the louvered bi-fold doors & the closet rod ... and up went some white paint on the trim, the baskets above & all the black iron hooks. I assembled the bench ... which has storage underneath the safety-hinged seat. In the winter it'll house the boots, snow pants, hats, scarves, etc. In summer we'll swap it out for the towels & pool bags.

It's so perfect for us. I now get little warm fuzzies when we come home with our bags & coats. That's how much I love it.

[I shouldn't have admitted that last part, right? Too late. It's out there.]