Yesterday was a beautiful day.
The type of day when you throw open the windows and the doors.
Like this one.
What if I told you that the first time I walked through this door after we bought back the house, I almost cried.
I couldn’t help it.
The stories this dutch door could tell.
When we bought the house back, the dutch part of the door was a little sad and missing a piece and we talked about replacing it.
But I couldn’t.
Do you have any idea how many times I’ve walked through this door?
So we fixed it and painted it black and hung a boxwood wreath and cowbells on it.
But have you ever wondered what’s just on the other side?
When you walk through the door?
It looks like this.
Here’s the view of the other side of the door.
There is the cutest little laundry room and butler’s pantry right inside the door.
When we first started working on this space, I had several goals:
- It had to be cute. It’s the first room you see, and I didn’t want everyone walking through piles of dirty laundry and uncuteness.
- I needed a place to store laundry soap.
- I needed a coffee station/microwave station/toaster station all in one place.
- I needed a place to keep Buddy’s food and water.
- I needed a place to keep extra vases and plates, and decorative items when I wasn’t using them.
- I needed a place for all those plastic bags.
- I needed a place to store extra mail, etc.
And this room UNDERSTOOD the assignment.
It’s a small space that lives SO BIG.
On one side, there are built-ins for the washer and dryer.
We added shelving in between and added a countertop on the top for extra storage and a place to fold clothes.
There’s a ledge at the top filled with baskets for extra dish storage.
(total aside: I know. I KNOW. You want to tell me I have too many dishes. Blame it on the half-price table at yard sales.)
And then?
There’s the other side of the room that looks like this.
It’s a mini-butler’s pantry.
A while back, we added this mini barn door that slides to reveal the trash can and recycle bin.
This is where we keep the microwave and the coffee maker and all the coffee things and the toaster.
All those yard sale finds and white vases and white containers and white places that I’ve collected over the years and paid .25 for—this is where they live.
This tiny mug tree sits on the countertop.
It’s the home for all the mugs.
During the holidays, there’s a hot cocoa station here, and this room also has a set of dog bowls for Buddy.
On the back of the dutch door is the cutest mail carrier that I found at our local ReStore.
(If you live in McKinney—this is one of my FAVORITE thrift stores).
It hangs on the back door and mostly keeps Buddy’s dog leash and the laundry soap company.
I love you dutch door.
You’ve always been there.
You watched as I carried two tiny, right around 4-pound twinnies home through this door. I brought those two car carriers through the door with one on each arm.
You smiled as I walked out of this door in my wedding dress on my wedding day with hot rollers and red lipstick and slippers on.
You grinned as my new husband carried me back inside the day after our wedding to greet our family and friends for a wedding brunch the next day before we left for our honeymoon.
You wept with me as I walked back inside after my father’s funeral.
You watched my struggles with four tiny munchkins under the age of 7.
You looked on as my children took their first steps and ate cheerios and squash at the countertop and played with legos on those old oak floors.
All the hours.
All the moments.
All the days.
I cried when I left you—dutch door.
And then?
When I opened you back up for the first time and let the sunshine in, I threw my head back and laughed with all the excitement and anticipation of a thousand Christmas mornings.
And seven years later? I’m here to stay.
Here’s to all the joy (and new chapters) to come.
PS Two sentimental posts in one week? What is this blog coming to?
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