Launching and Landing Room

It all started a few years ago when I came across two awesome items in Ikea. The Leksvik set. A hat rack & shoe rack. I instantly fell in love. These items became regulars on my lists of wants, Christmas lists, birthday wish lists...you name it. Then I saw them at my friends Adrienne's house, and it reaffirmed how awesome they really were. But unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how it's viewed) I'm married to the cheapest man on earth. Lets call him frugal, that sounds allot better. He was not going to buy them...ever. In fact he had it set in his mind that he was going to MAKE them for me (more on this in a later post). Now I LOVE Dave to death, but a carpenter he is not. So I knew it would never be. So in January I started what seemed like the project that ever ends. I had an idea of what I wanted to do then saw it realized in a Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publication on Storage, yup in a magazine. What can I say, great minds think alike. I had a old armoire that I acquired along the way, honestly I don't remember where.

And I was going to transform it. It seemed like an easy weekend project, why not? I had the paint. I had purchased an antiquing kit that was on sale a few months back. I didn't need it or have any use for it at the time, but hey...it was on sale! So I went to work. I painted the armoire and doors black then distressed the edges and added hardware. One door I turned into a coat rack. Parker is demonstrating in this pic how even a 3 year old can use it! (Granted he's a very smart, unbelievably cute 3year old)
The other door was to serve as a key holder/ chalk board. (The chalk board part is not done yet, I'm going to paint the bottom rectangle with chalk board paint and add a small chalk holder which will be made from left over crown molding from another project.)

The bottom 2 drawers work great for storing shoes and keep them out of sight and out of the way. No more tripping on random shoes as we enter the house.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. And Dave is very please with the final expense, just under $40. Not too shabby! Her are some before and after pics. of the room and finished project.