I’m so happy to proclaim: the entryway project is complete! This past weekend, I added the finishing touches and pretty details and I’m thrilled to share it with you today.
We love our 1950s home, but it certainly didn’t come with all the modern spaces we love in 2018 – like a mudroom. Sometimes, when our homes don’t have the exact space we need, we’ve got to get creative! If anything, I hope this project has inspired you to think outside the box in your home – because we should all love where we live. We didn’t take down any walls, we kept on our budget, and we made this – not perfect – but just better than it was before.
We’ve created a mudroom in the garage and a more functional hallway as a landing space for our more valuable items – keys, purse, and wallet. But before I show you the end result, let’s remember where we started.
Where We Started
99.9% of the time, we enter our home through our garage. The door from the garage leads into a small, narrow hallway with three doors. I created an entry in the hall, but with all the doors and lack of organization opportunities, it felt cluttered and impractical. You can read more about where this hallway started – plus the brick laminate that covered the floors when we purchased the house – in the very first post in this Garage Entryway series.
So the hallway wasn’t working on its own. Then I thought, “what if we created a mudroom in the garage?” And that’s just what we did! After deciding with Mike how we needed the space to function for our family of two, I started dreaming of how we could transform this very … not pretty … garage.
I came up with a design idea, beautifully expressed in the quick drawing I created above. 😉 I think it came pretty close to the final look! The actual design board is much prettier and I included projects links in this post.
Here’s a wider shot of the all-cleared-out space. The first step to transforming the garage was to paint the walls (phew, that was a doozy!) Let’s just say it took me 16 hours of my life just for the small portion of the garage we decided to paint. See the entire process plus the freshly painted hallway in this post.
After polling you on Instagram and Facebook, you helped me decide which color to paint the door: Rainy Days by Magnolia a.k.a. Joanna Gaines. It really reminds me of a color we used throughout our wedding day, so there was an immediate fondness. See the process and the painted doors in the hallway in this post.
And now for my favorite painting project (especially after painting those cinderblock walls): the floor. This paint was so easy to work with – a dream, really! Plus, with the must-have non-slip additive, I won’t be throwing any groceries in the air! Read more about my process of painting the garage floor here.
What I thought would be the last of the painting: the beautiful yellow-ish cabinets! Gosh, it made such a difference! Read about my experience with chalkboard paint and the cabinets here.
Where We Are
Now that you’ve seen the process – which is really important to see – are you ready for what it looks like now? It’s taken us two months, but we love how it’s serving our family!
The Garage
It’s been a treat to pull in to this view! The overall change is pretty wild, but it’s the small details that are my favorite: the print, numbered steps, gold letters, wreath, and pillows. Like the three DIYs listed? I wrote a little post about how you can make your own!
We’ve already been using the baskets for our shoes (they’re usually full – remember, these are styled photos) and love the space to hang up our coats, especially now that the temperature is getting cooler!
I hunted for the perfect pillow, but settled on the classic buffalo check pillow case – can you guess where I found it? Amazon! I used a faux down insert from IKEA (but this is a great option too)!
Amazon is also where I found this rug! My favorite feature is that it’s machine washable – since let’s be honest, we’re bound to track in muddy, snowy, or grass-stained shoes.
One of the baskets on the bottom shelf holds our extra hats and I’m still deciding what would be most convenient for the other to hold.
I also added a large basket to the top of the refrigerator to hold our extra grocery totes. We use them often so it was fine to have the top open, but for our winter accessories, we needed something with a lid. These IKEA bins fit the bill and are easy to label with a dry erase marker!
The last thing I added for this project were these shelves. We already had brackets and boards, so I spray painted the brackets and had a friend saw the boards in half to fit the space! We’re still deciding what we’ll store on the shelves, but we’re thinking Mike’s car wash supplies and seasonal items.
Hallway
While it didn’t function for us originally, that didn’t mean it couldn’t work for us. Simplifying it down to just using the hallway for our keys and other valuable items (and a pin board) was a great move!
It’s amazing how a fresh coat of paint on the walls and doors brightens up a space! You may have noticed I gravitate toward neutrals, but when I saw this rug at TJ Maxx, I fell in love with how it ties in with the blue door.
To keep the hallway simple, I went with white frames from IKEA (can’t beat $7.99) and we added photos we already had on hand. I already had the pin board, but its frame was gray. I wanted to keep with the bright white scheme, so I painted the frame with the same paint I used for the doors and trim.
I thought I’d paint another hand-lettered phrase to hang in our hallway, but my friend encouraged me to paint something that was meaningful to Mike and I. As you could imagine, a million ideas swirled in my head (but yet none at the same time 😂).
And then one jumped out: Lava. It comes from the short film shown before the movie Inside Out. They sing about “I lava you.” So sometimes, Mike and I say “lava” instead of “I love you.” Now when we leave our home, this is what we see.
And now for the most functional part of the hallway: a mirror, sweet little hooks, and my new obsession: these shelves! I added a bowl and little green, but I still need to secure them to the shelves since I can already visualize them both falling off and shattering!
Where We Want to Be
We’re very pleased with how this project turned out and while the final details have been added, we hesitate to use the word “finished” because everything is a work in progress. We look for better than before and the garage entryway certainly fit that description! Perhaps one day, we’ll have the entire garage painted (but I’ll be hiring someone next time 😉 ), but in the meantime we can enjoy it as-is. We’re soaking it all in, knowing that redeeming our home is a process; not a sprint.
This post wraps up our first large project since we’ve started the blog, so we’re hitting the pause button on the garage entryway and beginning to focus our efforts on other areas of our home.
You guys – the Redeeming Hampton Tribe – have walked with us through this and we are so thankful for you! Thank you for following along! If you want to continue, subscribe to the Redeeming Hampton community and you’ll receive an email each time a new post goes live – so you’ll always be in the know! Sign-up here.
Product Links
Garage:
Hearth & Hand Eucalyptus Wreath
Buffalo Check Pillowcase / IKEA Faux Down Pillow Insert (similar from Amazon)
Magnetic Letters (tutorial on how I made them)
Large Basket (another option I like, I found mine at HomeGoods)
Wire Baskets (similar)
Hallway:
Hearth and Hand Black Stone Bowl
Hearth & Hand Forged Nail Wall Hooks
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Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
Great Job Mike & Kristin! Full of personality & looks so clean. Love it! Can’t wait to see what is next!