Remember the Dog room?
(ahem)
I mean the Mudroom that was destroyed by a dog?
Well, we’ve been a working.
The sub floor has been replaced, along with the doors, door jams and base boards.
It smells nice is there.

It is a nice big room, and there is one big wall right next to the garage door that is just screaming to be used for coats, hats and other such outdoor gear

While I would have loved to do something like solid wood built in shelving and trim and all that, the budget isn’t allowing for such things anymore, but I think we came up with a great solution that total cost about three hundred dollars.

This is a Billy book case from IKEA, the tall skinny one.  It is about the size of a locker.

We got enough to span the length of the wall, it came to eight total.

We did a little modification, so we could mount hooks to the back of the bookcases that would be strong enough to hold backpacks and small children (who like to hang on such things).  Dadzoo ran three boards the length of the wall screwing the board into studs, then screwing the bookcases into the boards. That way they are solid, no tipping over.

He was then able to screw hooks into each bookcase or “cubbie” as we call them.  Each of the older children gets their own cubbie to keep coats, backpack, shoes and other such items, the two little girls get to share one for now.  The two cubbies on each end hold other various outdoor items, like the dog’s leash and toys, my purse and shoes, etc.

I love how it turned out!  Finally a workable solution for all those zillion items that are bouncing around this place!

 There are a lot of funny little quirks in our new house, things that you would expect in an older  home, not one that is only ten years old, and it seems we keep discovering things everyday.

We have started calling it the “You would have thought….” house.  Meaning that everytime we are on the cusp of a new discovery Dadzoo or I always say “You would have thought that they wouldn’t have wired the whole kitchen on a switch.” or “You would have thought they would have calked all the windows”.

One of our “You would have thoughts” regards our master bedroom, or as we call it, our semi-private master bedroom.  When we were looking at this house, I fell in love with the glass french doors on the master bedroom.  Sure, they are glass, but it isn’t anything some curtains couldn’t fix, and how lovely and unique are glass french doors.

Right?

Once we had bought the house, and we were moving in, I noticed a problem with those pretty french doors.  Something I hadn’t anticipated, something I should have anticipated, which is typical with this house of ours.

Notice on the picture below.  Notice that there is no latch, which means there is no lock, which means our bedroom isn’t private at all, which means I sleep in a hallway (one of the entrances to the only bathroom), which means there will be no eighth child until a solution is found.

As typical, I fretted and Dadzoo solved.  He installed a simple, fence latch, and while it isn’t super solid, a good push and it would pop open, it is enough to keep the roaming bands of children at bay.

As for the other problem, the clear glass part, here is what I came up with.  I think  it is lovely, I kind of get the impression others (the people who have seen it in real life) don’t think it is as pretty as I do.

Oh well.