Creating a Family Drop Zone

Creating our drop zone years ago is BY FAR my FAVORITE DIY project. Take a look at all the hallways in your home and see if you can create a usable space from a former hallway, too!

My back hallway has never been my favorite area in my house.

I have always longed for a back hall drop zone like the cute cubby photos in Pottery Barn.

I don’t understand why the kids can’t just hang this stuff up!

I purposely put the back hallway and laundry room at the end of my 40 day challenge, hoping I would find a great solution.

And I did!! I found it online, but sadly I no longer have the link to share. 🙁

Anyway, I knew I HAD to do it. The next morning, I got right up and started my plan and I measured the back hall, my frames, and calendars.

Then I made a to-scale drawing of the wall to see if everything would fit, and to see how long to make the hook holder thingies.

By 8:30 am, Abby and I headed out to Lowe’s. By noon, I was home with wooden boards, screws, and 10 out of the 15 hooks I needed.

I took everything down off the back hallway walls. I decided to quickly paint each wall.

I took the shelves into the kitchen, spread out some waxed paper and started painting.

I didn’t want my wood to stick to the waxed paper, so I used plastic hangers for the wood to dry upon.

Back in the back hallway, I marked out where the studs were and made a plumb line to visualize where the shelf would hang.

Hubby went from Lowe’s to Lowe’s looking for those 5 extra hooks, recognizing my laser focused intensity!

By 5 pm, I had done it! I recreated the entry way I saw online in my own home!

Everything above the shelf I already owned.

I like the ledge. I was going to make it a full blown shelf, but it was more costly and who needs another 9 foot long hot spot?

I have already found myself using it for keys and my cell phone. And now that is where we put Hunter’s electric collar when he is not wearing it on walks and at doggie daycare. 🙂

The kids’ backpack hooks were already in studs, so they stayed where they were.

With the additional hook storage, I added a place for our library bag, a dry cleaning bag, my purse, and there is even room for bags of returns!

I am BEYOND thrilled! I finally have the back hall drop zone I have dreamed of!

Now, while this solved our coat and bag problem, it did not solve the mail, calendar, and to-do piles problem.

Once you get in the kitchen, we have another 9 foot long space that is almost always “holding” mail and a bunch of “to-do’s.” Greg uses the right side and I use the left side. When the two meet, I know we are toooooo busy!!

Honestly, this counter always has stuff on it. I fill my days to overflowing, and there is always a pile of stuff coming and going. I think you should know THAT is OK!

The goal is not to have clean counters 100% of the time. The goal is to have a place for everything, even your temporary items that are coming or going. 🙂

You can see how the whole first floor of my house flows here.