the pink clutch ...: A New Back Hall

Two weeks ago I took on a little project which ended up being one of my favorites I have ever completed in our house. We have a hallway in our kitchen connecting the breakfast room to the laundry room and the garage, you probably remember it as being the location of our coffee bar. It was yellow with a darling pink vintage bar cart and outfitted for all things coffee, tea and hot cocoa. I thought the space was absolutely darling, but it stopped working for us in the way we needed. A change needed to be made.

A month or so ago when I was setting the table I noticed that a ton of the items I use for tables, styling and the like were being housed in the basement in my old work room and in the dining room in various areas. I felt like I had things stashed in so many places and it seemed really dumb. Why did I have so many things that I needed to keep them in multiple places and on various floors of our home. Something needed to change quickly.

A few months before I scored a fabulous china hutch for $100 while I was shopping for a headboard. Yes, $100, so I brought it home and stored it in our garage knowing it would either work for us or for my oldest who would be moving out, again, soon. At the same time I was frustrated about the china issue I spotted the cabinet in the garage and realized I needed to find a way to have all my things together. The storage situation was a bad plan and needed to be remedied. I loved the coffee area but I have a perfect spot on my counter for our coffee pot and I was using an area I could be using more wisely in a way that was probably not the best plan. I made a quick decision to move the bar cart, move in the china cabinet and make some changes.

When I started moving things I realized I needed to rethink the color of the wall as well. The other halls in our home were all painted the same color with the exception of this area that I had been viewing as part of the breakfast room, when in fact, it was not. I called my favorite painter, pulled out my hall paint and had it painted to match all of the other hall spaces. When I came home and say him painting it I knew it was the right call as suddenly it looked the way it was supposed to. It quickly seemed to come together.

The next step was to move all of my things from the basement and in other areas to the kitchen and start sorting through what I had. I have way to many things, many collected over quite a bit of time. I laid it all out and chose my favorites and decided to part with the rest. Yes, I love it all, but keeping it all was wasteful and not smart and I vowed to make sure I would not be storing things in any other area other than the kitchen, the butlers hall (which is now how I view this space) and in our china cabinet in the dining room. The rest truly needed to go.

I can't tell you how great I feel about this finished project. It feels so good to have things organized, all together and at my finger tips when I want to use anything. I was styling for a project last week and had exactly what I needed right next to me instead of having to recall where I had placed it and hunting it down. I can't believe I waited so long to make the change.

When I first purchased the cabinet I had the vision that I would have it painted, maybe white or another color, but when I moved it into the house and saw it in the space I realized how much I loved it as it was. I love antique pieces and this one is so pretty and looks so good just the way it is.

A chair from the foyer plus a few extra things I had stashed away pulled together and it is done and honestly, I do not think I could love it more! My sister in law brought over a few things that belonged to my in laws while I was working on this space and one of the items was a darling little needlepoint stool which I slid right under the pink chair and it now is perfectly at home in its new space. It is very old and I want to keep it safe, so this space is perfect.

Coming in the garage door I love seeing the space. I love that I chose blue to match all the other halls and I love that it is organized and filled with so many pieces we love. I truly believe that you need to use what you own and I was doing the exact opposite of that, I was keeping things tucked away in spaces and not using what we own.

I no longer have that problem and it feels fabulous! 💙

I have some great things I used to make this cabinet and the huge closet next to it work for a butler's area ... and I think you will love and use all of the products I ordered. As usual ... Amazon to the rescue! To keep all of my dishes and beautiful pieces safe I used velvet drawer liner + felt dish separators. In addition these baskets are perfect for the closet and pantry to keep smaller things corralled. Oh, and I also added my favorite comfy dress ... it feels amazing on and looks just as cute with both sandals and wedges! 😉