New Project Done: Kids' Launchpad

It may not look like much, but I am really excited about this space!

With 4 kids in school last year, there seemed to ALWAYS be backpacks, purses, shoes, books, you name it - all over my living room, scattered down the hallway, just everywhere. I kept telling them to take their backpacks to their rooms and put them on their beds or at the foot of their bed or something. It just never worked.

Another problem we've been having is for their before-bed-routine, they are to pick out their clothes for tomorrow and lay them out so they can get dressed quicker in the mornings and with less stress (for anyone). But they just don't have enough space to lay them out. Their dressers have tons of stuff on top of them, and there's just no cleared off flat surfaces. 

This is the BEFORE. Sorry it's blurry! You can see the toy cubby stand and even the cage poking out down the hallway on the other side of the bookshelf.

But, the problems have been solved!


I finally took out the bunkbeds from the younger girls' room and have already sold it on Craigslist (they come get it tomorrow YAY!), and moved the guinea pig's cage and the toy cubby stand into the girls room. That left the one big bookshelf in the hallway which I pushed down the wall and freed up space between it and the older girls' bedroom door (which is practically right across from the front door). 


So, in that space, I had Hubby put up the coat hook pegs I'd bought for this project months ago. Then I rescued our old coffee table from the back porch, cleaned it well and oiled it down with Old English. It's a rustic style table from Pier One, so being a little weather aged and battered really just made it look even cooler. hehe  I had originally wanted to get a trunk or some kind of cedar chest or something, but I really kind of like the table there. Then I rearranged some of the girls' pictures and TADAH! A new launch/landing pad.

So thrilled with how this turned out.

As the kids come in from school each day, the table (now a bench!) and hooks are right there, and they can offload the backpacks, purses, coats, boots, whatever - and it's OK! There is plenty of room for them all to hang stuff and even just set stuff on the bench, even the new college student. She seems to be the hardest to get to stop leaving her stuff everywhere... I guess the older they are, the longer the bad habits stick with them.  

Then at night before bed, they can get their stuff all ready for tomorrow, make sure they have their jackets there if necessary, put their shoes under the bench and put their clothes in a neat stack on the bench ready to slip into in the morning. (Just down the hall is the girls' bathroom). 

So, it's a landing pad in the afternoons and a launch pad in the mornings.  I'm loving it, and am really hoping the kids really use it, and my living room can stay clear of all their STUFF. 

P.S. One more week til my best friend in the UK comes to be our house-guest for 2 weeks! The house is just about ready too! YAY! Next big project: Taking back my bedroom - they can use it as a family room - but they have to keep it clean - oh and stop using it as a dumping ground, UGH! I'll keep you updated! :)