Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Grid Style Board and Batten Entryway and Drop Zone

In an effort to get ahead of the back to school clutter, we had to implement something other than our puny little coat rack in order to tame the mess. After a lot of Pinspiration (that's a thing, right?) I drew up a plan in my handy notebook that resulted in this:


Hear the angel's singing? It's beautiful. I swear, I should rename this blog "My Husband Made It", because he takes my crazy ideas and turns them into awesomeness like this.

Here is the progression of this little space.


This was a totally bare space when we moved in. In fact, when we first toured this house, the tenants of the previous owner kept guinea pigs and cages in this corner. We have a little closet in the family room, but we knew that there was no way that this little corner wouldn't get cluttered up with coats, shoes and backpacks. With fours kids, I would spend my entire life hanging coats in the closet, and "ain't nobody got time for  that."

We originally hung up a cute little coat hook that my father-in-law made. It's cute, but it just wasn't quite enough to tame the whirlwind of stuff that kept getting deposited here.

Next, we intend to build a long bench to go here to complete the space. Maybe we'll hang some key hooks on the short wall. I just can't wait to put another item on the "honey do build" list.


In order to build out our awesome grid style board and batten wall, we started by affixing furring strips horizontally to the wall.


The horizontal strips were screwed into the studs and vertical pieces were cut to size and affixed with liquid nails.


Once everything was up, we caulked...


puttied....


 and sanded.

Here's where I have to note that if we were to do this project over again, we would have upgraded the wood to a true 1x3 pine or MDF. We spent a lot more money on a large quantity of wood putty and sand paper. Furring strips are really rough and therefore required a ton of patience and sanding in order to get smooth strips and seamless joints.

All in all, I am ecstatic with the results. And so far, it has helped to contain the clutter! The low placement of the hooks has provided an accessible way for the kids to take over picking up their own stuff. That makes one happy mamma!


Tell me, what kind of organization projects have you tackled in preparation for the new school year?


18 comments:

  1. This is a really great idea, it looks good!

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  2. This is exactly what I need in my entryway. Thanks for the idea!

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    1. You're welcome, Caroline! I'd love to see a picture if you do something similar.

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  3. yikes! This. is. beautiful. LOVE it!!! I would never have thought to make a grid on the wall, but that is just awesome. Now I want to think of somewhere to make this in my house....too bad most of my spaces are all used up. Garage, maybe? lol

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  4. I love this! I have been wanting to do something like this in my bedroom for all my purses!

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    1. Thanks, Sierra! Ours has been great so far for purses and backpacks.

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  5. I LOVE it! I wish we had a space in our house that we could do this to. Guess I just need a bigger house now, right? ;-)

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    1. Thanks! Sounds like a great excuse to get a bigger house :)

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  6. This makes such a huge impact in that space! I love how it turned out!

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  7. This is awesome! Beautiful meets totally functional! Love it! Thanks for linking up with us at The Makers! We are thrilled to have you! Have a great week!
    Corey @ TinySidekick.com

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  8. This is awesome!! We have a tiny laundry room with not nearly enough hanging space and I think this would be the perfect solution. Thanks for the idea... it looks great!

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    1. I'm a total sucker for the board and batten look, but I bet it would look fantastic in a laundry room. I would love to see pictures if you do it!

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  9. that's exactly what we did for our drop zone! So much better utilization of the space! Come link up at Outside {the Box} Tuesdays 5pm EST!

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    1. Carissa, I love the way yours turned out! I will definitely link up, thanks for the invitation :)

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