A Grand Entrance: Part 1

Remember the movie, What About Bob? You know, Bill Murray plays "Bob"... a hypochondriacal, highly anxious, codependent guy, overly-attached to his psychiatrist (and his fish). Well Bob had to learn to take "baby steps" and he kept saying it over and over: "baby steps to the door, baby steps up the stairs, baby steps on the bus..." Well, I feel like that with my back entryway transformation. Baby steps to an organized, neat entryway.

And so, I wanted to share with you a baby step I took this weekend. I cannot tell you how excited I am about this little thing. I actually get a little giddy when I walk through there now.

But first... some thanks are in order! You guys really got me thinking about some really great ways to make a small space more organized and user-friendly...and pretty. :-)

I love Erin's suggestion:

(The Company Store)

And I would totally do this if I could, but really that bench is a little too big for my space. Sigh. If only I had a little more space. But I am in love with the corner shelf, so who knows. Maybe I'll splurge...maybe.

A couple of you mentioned changing out my light and I really want to do that, I just need to find a cheap light that isn't ugly. So I've been keeping my eyes peeled. I also have some Goodwill mirrors I plan to spruce up to add to the space. What really got me thinking was all that unused space in that recessed area above the coats and going to the basement. So who knows, I may be adding a shelf and baskets there! Thanks for all your great ideas! Keep 'em comin'!

Now, back to my baby step. I didn't really mention it in my last post, but you can see it in my pic:

See it? No? It's that ugly accordian door...

Now? Yeah, not sure why it's there, but it gets in my way constantly since it took away like 4 inches of space in the doorway, so I was always bumping it. And the one time I tried to close the dogs down in the basement they just bent it and went through (I have a real door at the top of the stairs in the kitchen).

Anyway, I decided to take that ugly thing down. It was trickier than I thought because there are these little...brakets? (those gray things)...holding the track on and the "hinged" side, but that was hidden so it took a bit before I realized how that part came off.

Finally, I got it all off! Woohoo! Then I tackled the many, many screws that were in there...I used elbow grease and worked up a little sweat, but I got them all off! Now every time I go downstairs, I am nearly gleeful at that door being gone! I know, it's not that big of a thing, but I feel like it's made a world of difference.

Apparently I didn't take a full picture of the new and improved doorway, but I did think it was funny that once I got the track off, you can see three distinct colors! An orangey one in the basement, white under, and that pukey yellow.

It's a veritable rainbow of color around here!