This project has been in the works for a long time. Like seven months ago! Last September, I was pretty fed up with our current laundry room/mudroom situation and started making plans…and….that’s pretty much where it stopped.
We did purchase the TJUSIG shoe bench from IKEA, which has been great for the boys’ soccer cleats and Mark’s shoes (we corral all of the kids’ sneakers in a separate basket). But our solution for coats was just not working. Too big for such a small room and with my current laundry system of “keep separate piles on the floor”, it was too hard for anyone to navigate to put their coats away!
So after searching for a large enough coat rack to fit our needs and coming up empty-handed, Mark and I decided to transform something we already had.
Back story: Years and years ago, my parents gave us an old bunk bed for my two oldest boys. It was solid wood, sturdy and we loved it. But with the addition of more brothers, we needed more beds and I couldn’t find another bunk that matched. (I looked on Craigslist for months!) Sadly, we retired them for two matching ones and we’ve kept the old pieces in our basement since.
Until now!
The only picture I could find of the bunks was this super old one when we had them separated (M and D were probably 3 and 5, I think…time flies!) into two twins, but you get the idea:
We took one of the top bunk’s rails and transformed it into the perfect coat rack for a family of seven!
You’ll have to excuse the less-than-awesome pictures. It’s so hard to get a good shot in such a little room!
The details:
- Stained with Minwax in Provincial, which is my new favorite! I want to stain everything this color now!
- Hooks are from Overstock and came in a pack of 10, so we have a few leftover for another project
Still to do on my laundry room/mudroom to-do list:
- Order laundry baskets for a better solution than keeping piles on the floor
- Replace the light
- Replace the flooring to tile
- Install cabinetry above the washer and dryer
