Like nearly every house I’ve ever been in, seen on TV, or read about online, my house is always in need of more storage solutions. My girls (like I’m sure no other children ever) struggle a bit with putting things away. We’ve tried various solutions over the 3+ years we’ve been in this home with school-aged kids. Put your backpack in the cubby in the pass-through laundry/mudroom! Put your shoes in the basket by the front door! Hang your coat and backpack on the hooks in your closet! The one method that has stuck, though, seems to be the “drop your stuff in the middle of the kitchen and leave it there until mom nags twenty times asks you nicely to put it away.”

We simply don’t have a good space in the main part of our home for a mud room/drop zone. Our garage opens into the laundry room, which is itty-bitty, and kid stuff in my pantry, which is quite spacious and close by, drives me batty (but that’s another post). Hooks on the wall to collect all the bags/coats/sweaters/stuff that is hang-able is really the best option, so I got to work a few weeks ago to create an easy place for my youngest two girls to keep all their precious things. So far it’s working perfectly!

With seven hooks between the two of them, they have plenty of room to hang their things; its hung at an easy height to access; and it’s cute enough to work with their room décor. Score for mom.

I started with a shutter I picked up at the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore (LOVE that place!) that was pretty dingy and gross, like this.

I gave it a good scrub-down with my favorite Magic Eraser and removed all the hinges and hardware from front and back. Then I simply painted it with some left-over turquoise I had from my entry desk project to pull some of the blues in the duvet fabric (seen here) over to the opposite wall.

I love the turquoise with the pale pink walls. The knobs are from Hobby Lobby (always 50% off) and I decided on four along the bottom and three on top so they could be evenly spaced and staggered for easier hanging. My six-year-old is not a fan of the distressed look to the knobs, “Can you paint over the black spots with white paint?” but I love the slightly cottage-vibe they add to the piece.

To place the knobs, I simply measured to the center of the top edge, than halfway between there and each corner and drilled a pilot hole at each point. Along the bottom edge, I measured in an inch from each side for the outer knobs, then divided the distance between those two knobs into thirds. I made all the holes slightly smaller than the screw on the back of the knobs so they would fit snuggly in the holes and not twist and twirl in little fingers.

We affixed the shutter to the wall with Command Picture Hanging Strips–it was so simple! WHY have I not discovered these before??? You can see a few of the backing strips attached to the wall around the shutter—I’ve got another project in the works for that area.

But for now, I am loving the ease with which my kids can put their stuff away. Ahhhhhh, mommy sigh of relief!

Linking up with Home Stories A to Z. Check out all the amazing projects over there!