A New Home for Our Shoes...

While we don't have a strict "no shoes in the house" rule, we do try to take our shoes off when we come in the door. If it rains even a little, our whole yard turns into a giant mud puddle because we're at the bottom of the hill. So we just try to make a habit of it. Our guests typically see our shoes by the door and follow suit by kicking theirs off too. But we aren't going to yell at you if you don't, unlike some other people *cough* my mother-in-law.

Right now, we just have a little rug by the door. It is little, and you can only fit maybe three pairs of shoes on it. Josh and I both like to keep a pair of moccasins by the door for those times when you just want to run out to check the mail or get something out of your car. So there's really no room for the shoes we need to take off when we come in. Plus the rug always gets all bunched up, and it doesn't look nice.

I've been eyeing entryway benches like these:

What I do not love about them is their price tags!! It seems like all of the ones I really love are $200+, and I just can't justify that. The ones that are more reasonably priced ($50-$60) are all made of compressed wood, and I won't even bother with that for furniture that's likely going to get abused. I'll stick with my ugly little rug, thank you very much.

It seems like an easy enough thing to DIY, but I just cannot seem to find a plan that I really like! It should be simple enough to make my own plan, honestly, but I just really don't have those skills. I am determined to find one, though!