In a previous blog, I wrote about the bar that we had in our family room.  Long story short, it was poorly designed, poorly built and terribly located...and so...I ripped it out.

The empty space called (screamed) for a mud room.  Located at the crossroads of the garage, the laundry room and the powder room, this is the ideal spot for the kids to hang their coats, throw their back packs and sports bags and dump their shoes.  Ahh...the shoes...always smelly and full of mud and always left laying around the house.

A few years ago, I installed some hooks and shelves for coats, hats and gloves.  Last year I put down a beautiful slate floor throughout the mud room, powder room and laundry room and "re-did" the powder room, installing new fixtures and painting the walls.

A few days ago, I embarked on the newest (and hopefully last) mud room project...a storage bench for the shoes!!  I designed the bench as a banquette, since I had a few feet on either side of the corner of the room to work with.  I looked into a variety of plans for the project, but none of them were exactly what I was looking for.  Much like I combine recipes when I am cooking, I combined plans, taking what I liked from each, developing my own individualized plan.  

On the first day, I went shopping for my supplies...2 by 4's (which actually measure 2x3 1/2, by the way), plywood and trim.  Everything else I had in my shop for transforming and repairing furniture.

Once I got all of my wood home, I began the detailed measuring, cutting and installation of the framework.  I chose to frame out the bench to make it as sturdy and as stable as possible...it will be used by kids, after all.

After a few days of client work for, I went back to work on the bench.  In the meantime, all of my kids shoes are piled up in the laundry room, leaving it smelling something like a landfill.  This has kept me out of the laundry room, watching the laundry pile up all over the house.  

A few hours of work on the outside of the bench made it look like it was coming together.  At the end of day two, the banquette had walls and handsome trim work.

A few days passed before I could get day three under my belt, but the day entailed measuring and cutting the lid, installing the hinges and caulking all of the seams.  

The last thing left to do is paint my bench and fill it with smelly shoes.  I can't wait to get started on the painting!!  The shoes, on the other hand...

As difficult as it is for me to say goodbye to the Summer, I am always so happy once Autumn is upon us.  As the weather becomes a little cooler and the leaves begin to turn, I look forward to my seasonal visit to the local nursery.  

Today I picked up sugar pumpkins, small gourds and an assortment of seasonal plants and flowers.  I drove home full of excitement and anticipation, thinking about how my Autumn display would come together.  I just got two wonderful footed planters that were made by a carpenter I know.  I painted them antique white (with outdoor paint) to match the trim around my front door and filled them with the goodies I bought at the nursery.  

When I was finished, I stood back to admire all of the wonderful colors that come with the season.  Soon the buds on the mums will bloom and my planters will be overflowing with Autumnal beauty. 

What a wonderful way to wake up the entryway to your home...welcoming Autumn and welcoming friends.

I spent much of my younger years a hopeless design  matchaholic...believing that the idea of matching furniture provided a sense of peace and calm to the eye.  If I had a white, pedestal table on one side of the sofa, then I had to have that same white pedestal table on the other side of the sofa...and they had to match the coffee table.  I was living in a prison of Garanimal design.  

While studying Design in college, I came to learn that there are MANY other ways to please the eye when it comes to designing a space.  I will coordinate now, but rarely match.  I have found that matching stifles creativity and limits design possibilities.  I follow the design philosophy that if you really love something, you can make it work.

Now, when clients ask me to transform matching pieces for them, I often suggest coordinating colors, finishes or styles rather than making them exactly the same.  Sometimes I will paint different accent tables the same color to be used together in a space...the same color, but different looks.  A bedroom can be brought to the next level when the bed is flanked by 2 of the same table in different finishes.  A living space can be made to look amazing with a sofa between two different tables in the same color.

Take a step outside the box when it comes to putting together your space.  Be creative and have fun.