Entryway Bench for a Shoe-Free Home

Just the other day I was telling my husband that I wanted a bench to place in the entryway for guests to sit on to take off their shoes before stepping on our carpet. I don't want germy shoes on our carpets since we have two young children who love rolling around on the floor. And sometimes my husband tracks in strange things when he wears his work boots. So I must say I was so pleasantly surprised when I stumbled upon this bench at the local Goodwill. However, I almost didn't get it because I didn't want to find a new place for the dresser that was in the entryway, but I ended up putting it in my craft room. Anyhoo, I decided that I had to get it since I just had a conversation with the husband about wanting one, and it was only $12.99!

So I loaded it up in my Smurf (the nickname of my SUV since it's Smurf blue with a white top). There was just enough room for it with the stroller in back.

It doesn't look too bad... Right? It just needed some new fabric. This fabric was covered in pet fur.

And then I removed the cushion.... Ahhhhhhh! So... How in the world am I supposed to fix that big hole?

Luckily, we still had the "wood" from an old entertainment center that my husband recently broke down. It was in the craft room, and I had him move it out, so I could put my desk in the corner. Anyhoo, the board wasn't quite long enough so there is a small square space missing, but it'll be okay. The cushion will cover that, and it's not in a critical spot where I have to worry about someone falling through! After I nailed the boards on top, I painted the frame of the bench black. I didn't touch the drawers. I was going to remove the fabric from the sides, but I discovered that there was a reason they covered the wooden rails on the sides with fabric. Some of the rails were missing.

I covered the bench with the fabric left over from my curtains. I just love the print of this fabric.

Originally, I left the bench like this, but I decided something was missing. I wanted some type of back to the bench for you to lean against instead of the wall. Then I remembered that we had an octagon coffee table that I no longer had any use for in the storage shed. I removed the legs from the table, painted it with chalkboard paint, and put it behind the bench.

Before buying this bench, we would leave our shoes scattered in the entryway in front of (and underneath) the dresser that used to be there. Now, they're out of sight inside one of the drawers.