Mudroom Lockers, Hardware Stores, Paint

Last weekend D, N and I were on a quest to find the perfect coat hooks for our mudroom lockers. Below is a picture of a locker unit we saw at Lowes (or Yowe's as N would say). We designed our locker unit along the same lines. The locker unit of our dreams that we designed had built in letter trays, adjustable height shelves and rolling shoe shelves, but our builder's cabinet maker quoted the project at$1,250.00, so we simplified quite a bit and decided we can add in some ClosetMaid wire baskets to the unit to save some money. If there's one thing we've learned in the process of building this house it is that we have expensive taste! We'd still like the lockers to look like they belong in the house. We don't want them to look like an afterthought (is that one word or two??), so we headed out to our local hardware stores (Nenards and Yowe's as N would say) for coat hooks and wire baskets that will make this locker unit function the best for us. N was such a trooper for our extended day of shopping. At one point he had it set in his little mind that he needed to walk in the stores rather than ride in the shopping cart. "Me walk, me walk." He'd say. So, D and I would take turns walking around with N to let him stretch his legs. He is quite the fearless little explorer. N discovered that the little drawers that hold all of the coat hooks open and spill out coat hooks onto the floor. This was fascinating to him. He was pretty good about it, though. He would spill a few out and put them back into a storage bin... not necessarily the correct bin, but he at least tried to. N then heard the beeping of the tractor they use inside Lowes to load and unload palates of merchandise. "Tractor beep, beep. We watch?" So, N and I watched the tractor move palates around inside the store while D shopped. I have to say that was quality entertainment from my point of view because we got to stand in one place for a few minutes.

While we were shopping the painters were hard at work at our house. The pictures below show the cabinets and floors covered in plastic to protect them from the paint. Jose, our painter, and his crew completed all of the trim, the doors, and the spindles for the stairs in a just a few days. I think it actually took them longer to tape and prep than it took them to paint. Jose stained our banister to match our hardwood last Sunday afternoon. We couldn't believe he was working on a Sunday. It turned out to be a good day for him to do it because there weren't any other trades there to get in his way. The painters will return to paint the walls in the next couple weeks..maybe even next week actually.

Every time we visit the house N has to walk around and check on all the fans. He says" Fan..round, round. On?" He's our little inspector. Good thing he's keepin his eye on things. :)