A clutter solution

It has been wonderful having the two grand fairies staying here with us at the cottage part time.  The best part is the morning, when they both come down the stairs with big smiles on their faces and hair sticking up every which way, with that sweet scent of sleepy babies.  They both wake up happy and laughing and ready to face the delights of a new day.

The bad part? Clutter. 

With extra people in the house and no space to put away all the kicked off shoes and scattered toys, the entry way was always a mess.

My solution was to drag this bench in from the garden (I found it at a garage sale about 10 years ago, and have had it outside since) and put baskets under it to toss shoes and toys in. I have space to add another basket for mittens, and probably should pick one up while Michaels has them on sale for 40% off, but was too cheap to buy all three at once.

The bench had a painted plywood seat, that was nicely chippy and I thought that would be fine, till I drug it all the way up to the house, and realized I was covered in ants. The wood had gotten all spongey and wet, and was nothing more than a nest for the critters, so I carried it out to the burn pile and cut another piece of plywood, wrapped it in fabric, and lined it with pillows I had in the closet.

Agnes Rosebud is pretty happy about the whole thing and I'm glad to have the shoes tucked away.

Now, we'll have to see if anyone actually USES the baskets!

Here is a picture of an earlier incarnation of the bench, I'd used it for an article in Romantic Homes a while back. 

This pretty photo of Beth's class is from Kristi Knox Day

Speaking of clutter, our hotel rooms at Paper Cowgirls were really knee deep in it all.  Between finishing up class projects we took, and working on our own teaching projects, plus helping Lisa with her kits, our rooms were like obstacle courses. Which is why Beth's little slide show is soooo funny. She is one witty gal.  Here it is if you want to see it (its very short, only 5 pictures will silly comments)

Karla at the Crafting Obstacle Course

Comments

[Kathy]

Your bench solution looks great and loved the little video. Looks like you had a great time!

[Jackie Nobles]

The bench is great and the furry babes so cute. Loved the video, made me laugh. Wish sis and I could have been at Paper Cowgirl, maybe next year.
Hugs Jackie

[Susan Reaney]

Hooray for your article. You have been making beautiful eggs and doing some great shopping. I pinned things but put Karla or Karla Nathan on each description. Hope you don't mind.
Hugs,
Suz

[jeanie]

I have serious clutter issues and no number of baskets seems to help. what would help is a good purging -- but I'm too attached!