The Garage Mud Room

 We haven't disappeared from our attempts to organize our house - I'm just a little bit off on posting the progress.  So finally (Memorial Day Weekend) we finished our garage room project.  I had a dream.....a dream of a bench that would cost under $30 and be some crazy colors the girls picked out.  So after a trip to Menard's for lumber and paint we clipped some coupons and headed to JoAnn Fabrics for some foam and fabric selection.  Polyurethane foam is not cheap!  Thank goodness for coupons or it would have killed my project budget.  So you have the beginning of the project with Tim measuring the wood to cut it to my lovely detailed drawings.

After some debating and discussion the end project looked like this.  We had to use some wood putty to fill some of the gaps and the girls "patiently" waited for it to dry.

As this was no Crayola paint the girls were smocked up (compliments of Ikea and Grandma Papke) to get ready to paint.  If you couldn't tell the girls picked out the color of the bench.

 And yes, they were very excited to finally get to paint - and threatened with their lives by their father if they got paint on the driveway.

 It was a team effort...

 Working hard...

 Everyone did their part.

 Even Emma - she was our cheerleader.

 After some stretching to get the fabric around my foam piece the finally L brackets were screwed in.

 Lots of help still.

 And the final product!  I am extremely happy with how this turned out.  We have gotten a lot of compliments on it and have been asked where we bought it. :).  The girls spent the rest of the day sitting on it because they liked it so much.

 Just another view of the painting skills of Abby and Megan.

The final product.  The shoe basket previously held toys in our basement (and that is Megan's basket with all the shoes - she organized quickly).  There is a shoe tray under there now for Tim's boots which works out great for concrete pour days.  The overhead shelf/hooks hold backpacks and coats.  Each bin currently holds the girls winter gloves/hats - not sure how that will evolve but it's the plan for now.  The unmatching hopscotch rug was a bad idea for the girls room that is almost perfect in dimensions for the mud room area.  It gives a comfortable space to walk in socks or barefoot after you have taken off your shoes.
Best part yet - none of these shoes, backpacks, or boots are in my kitchen or living room!  Less clutter and dirt in the house - successful project in my book!