Mirror, mirror...

Next in the continuing adventures of Sean and Lindsey's back entryway...

With paint done, it was time to think about decor.  It's such a small space that I knew we'd have to be very careful how we organized it.  As much as I would love a beautiful entryway bench with hooks and shelves and the whole nine yards, we just don't have room for it.  What I knew we did need was a lot of hooks.

I did some searching online and found this beautiful piece at Pottery Barn:

There were just a couple of problems.  First, it's $259.  Also, I measured and it's waaaaaay too big for our space.  So strikeout on both fronts.

Then a brilliant idea dawned on me.  When we first moved into the house, we went around and basically tore everything off the walls that we could, because it was all hideous.  It got thrown into a big pile in the basement and we haven't gotten around to sorting through it all yet.  (I'm guessing half will go in the trash and the other half will go to Goodwill.)

So, one short archaeological expedition later, I had our solution:

There had already been a mirror with hooks in that hallway when we moved in.  I just took it down because it had that awful teal from the kitchen on it and it was ugly.

But, I was inspired and wanted to see what we could do with what we already had, and so began my little project.

Step one: remove pegs.

I was really hoping they were screwed into the frame, but they weren't--they were glued in.  A little wiggling and I was able to pry them out, though.

Step two: wood fill.

I ended up doing two passes; one to fill in as much as I could, then sand, then another to fill in any left over cracks, then sand again.  I also sanded down the rest of the frame around the mirror to get it ready for painting.

Step three: prime and paint.

SO much better already, right?  I used some old primer we had from past projects, and then gave it two solid coats in the same white that we used on our kitchen cabinets and trim.

The problem came when I took the tape off the mirror:

It was a total mess.  I did a terrible job of not painting the tape (obviously) so there was a lot still stuck on there.

However, I now know that an x-acto knife can fix just about anything.  Fifteen minutes of scraping carefully, and it looked good as new.  I also gave it a really good wiping down with some Windex to get all of the tape goo off.

Finally, it was time for the hardware!  I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted on there yet, so I picked up a couple of different sets of hooks at Target.

I'd used these hooks before in a closet, and they're great--inexpensive and sturdy.  I opened both packages so I could play around with the layout, figuring that whatever I didn't use for the mirror would still find a use somewhere else down the line (we can ALWAYS use more hooks in our closets!).

This was too many...it looked crowded and it might be hard to take things on and off the hooks.

This was my second favorite...not bad, but it only gave us four hooks to use.

This ended up being the winner!  It looked balanced, there was plenty of room, and we had six hanging places.

I couldn't wait to hang it up.  It was a little nerve wracking drilling into our plaster (I decided to drill, then use an anchor and screw to hang it) but it feels very secure and our hallway is finally functional!

Grand total for the project: about $6 for the hooks. We already had everything else.  Beats $259, huh?  I wish we had the little drawers that the Pottery Barn mirror had, but the entryway is so small, I'm afraid they would stick out too far and take up valuable space.  This works well enough for us, and Sean has already taken over it with all of his stuff.

Action shot!

While I was at it, I also hung a small set of hooks on the opposite wall near the door, to give us a place to hang coats and jackets. (Also from Target!)

And there was one other major change that needed to be done (if you haven't already caught it yet)...did I ever post a picture of the ugly mushroom light fixture?  No?  Just in case, here it is...er, WAS...

And here it is now:

Yay for BETTER!

(The story of replacing the light fixtures is a whole 'nother story for a whole 'nother post.  Basically, it took much longer than we had anticipated, thanks to our old wiring, but once we got it figured out it wasn't too bad.  We replaced this light and also both of the lights in the upstairs hallway.  They were about $25 for 4 at Home Depot, so it was a cheap fix and we still have one extra left over...in case one breaks?)

And so ends phase one of our back hallway improvement.  We're still not totally done, but what's left can wait or become part of other, bigger projects:

• Get one more rug for the landing by the kitchen
• Replace flooring (it's the same bad vinyl as in the kitchen, so that will all happen at once)
• Build cover for radiator
• Clean up back doorway...I did a deep clean on the inside, but the outside is filthy so that will wait until it's a little warmer outside
• Find cool artwork to hang on remaining wall...I'm open to ideas!