Weekend Project – No More Sticky Mail

I surprised myself this weekend. I started a project…and was able to finish it in the same day.

A certain little someone appears to be getting ready for another growth spurt because he’s been taking longer naps lately. So, I had loads of time for projects. Ok, not really loads…more like a couple of hours today.

One of the things I’ve been wanting to do for awhile now is toddler-proof the front entryway. Since we moved into our house in 2008, we’ve had a standard faux-distressed side table with a standard-boring-lamp and a standard-ugly-mail organizer and probably all purchased from various trips to Target. (No offense, Target. I still love you.) The mail organizer is too small and, when mail comes inside, it is promptly tossed on the table, next to the organizer. The key we keep by the front door tends to get lost under the piles of mail and there have been at least two incidents in recent weeks where someone’s sticky fingers found said key and managed to “put it away” in the trash or in his toy box.

My point, if you haven’t gotten it, is that the space is cluttery and an eye-level goldmine for sticky toddler hands. So, I went to Pinterest. And Etsy. And I found this, this, this, and this. And I like them all for various reasons.

Rather than buying something I wasn’t 100% in love with, I thought I’d try something that fit our style a bit more.

On a related note, we recently ordered a canvas print from Shutterfly from the last family pictures we had taken with Gretchen. The canvas fit best on the wall next to the front door, so my project incorporates this as well.

What we bought:

1) 1 – 1″x 4″ piece of wood, cut to needed length

2) 1 pkg. (qty 2) – standard closet hooks

3) 1 – cool looking mail holder (um, it’s from Target. Originally, my plan was to pick up something more like a wire basket from Ikea. Target was much closer….)

Tools & Supplies:

1) 3 screws/nails to hang the board and picture (the hooks and mailbox came with their own supplies)

2) Drill/hammer

3) Some paint – We had extra white paint and sanded down the board to make it less boring.

And, voilà, entryway is now toddler-proofed.

Then I rearranged the living room.