porch redo

when we lived out by the camp the drive way took you right to the back door and through the laundry room to come into the house. no one ever used our front door when we lived there. so when we moved to this house we were excited that it had a front door with easy access. however this house also has a second entrance through a screened in porch. this door takes you right to the dinning room or straight through to the back yard. some how this has become our main entrance now as well. it also had become a dumping ground for toys, stinky shoes and even trash while it waited to be taken the the big can in the garage. so whenever someone came over or even just us coming home, we always walked through a mess. so i wanted to clean up the porch and make it a more welcoming place. i repainted the walls and some shelves, hung one of my paintings, got a great bench for a bargain, made some really cute hooks for the kids to hang their jackets or backpacks on, and put a rug down. i like how it turned out, i still sometimes trip over bikes and toys but we are getting there. here are some pics. my favorite project was the spots for the kids to hang their things. i had seen how to do this on someone elses blog. great idea!