We’ve spent quite a bit of time on the garage entry. Why?? Well . . . . .the garage entry is visible from the living room and several other places in the house. It is the place we most often use to enter our home, the passage way to storage and trash disposal and most importantly, Wheels kingdom in the garage. Our coats and outdoor gear are stored in the closet on one side and the other side has a drop zone cupboard and bench. It’s multifunctional and gets used a lot! For such an itty bitty space, it has a big impact. As we made first one change and then another, I realized they fit into three inter-related categories. We wanted this space to be 1) Functional 2) Good looking 3) A supporting player that does not draw attention to itself. Since we are making this house “ours”, this is the perfect time to think about all these things. So excited to have one space completely done!!! Even if it is a small space!
Functional
The drop zone cupboard has some built in features, including this charging station. Cubbies hold cellphones, sunglasses, on the go chargers. On one shelf is an inbox for Wheel’s paperwork, like car wash coupons or receipts. The door has the trash schedule taped to it. Our master calendar is here and other utility pieces that are out of sight. Oh yeah, and Wheel’s collection of five thousand sixty three flash lights – just in case.
Keys go on the hook in the corner cupboard when you walk in the house. I stick them in my pocket, because I ALWAYS come in the house with my hands full. But at least, I know where to look when they are missing 🙂 And you know, I moved the pack of gum and a handful of receipts and appointment cards for this pic!
Good looking
The garage entry is visually an extension of the living room. The cushions say “ furniture”, which help tie it into the living room. You know the karate chop that designers leave in the top of the cushion to show it is soft and cushy and quality? Well, draw your own conclusion. 🙂 But the colors were perfect! Since the living room door frames the entry, colors were chosen to go closely with the living room. The wall color is Sherwin Williams Topsail. The lower part of the bench is SW Popular Gray which is the same color as the living room wall. The bench top is just a bit darker, SW Versatile Gray.
A Supporting Player
This is what we started with: The tile is a given in much of the house and makes a strong statement by itself so it is always number one consideration. Besides the tile, there were five different wood patterns in this small space. First thing we did was to take down dark crown molding on top of the birch cupboard. I painted the shiny metal door with its fake woodgrain and mdf frame the same color (SW Nice White). And finally painted the bench to cover the very distinct and large grain pattern. The oak closet door on the other side is pattern #5. The goal is to be able to walk by the room without it drawing attention or competing with any other part of the house. It just needs to be there doing its job and lookin’ good!
And the results . . . .
The winner in the hard working, good looking, supporting player category . . . .
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Sam @ Living The Dutch Dream says
It must be great having a special place inside the cupboard for all the telephones and chargers. This drives me batty in our house, always a jumble of wires coming from every available socket around the house. I think I need to look into creating a similar solution to what you have done.
Charlene says
It really does help with the wire clutter!! It also helps because now I know where my phone is. . . I used to plug it in where ever there was an empty socket and then race around trying to find which room the phone was in when I needed it. Got lots of exercise and missed calls!
Charlene recently posted…Garage Entry Reveal