The hallway is the first place you see in a house, it’s what greets you after a long day out of the house when you arrive in with cranky children who want to be fed. It should be warms and welcoming, like a warm hug. Despite many attempts at IKEA solutions my hallway was doing the opposite. It was cluttered and drove me crazy. See:
The kids’ coats lived on top of the smaller IKEA unit and usually fell off it so they were in the floor amid toys, briefcases, nappy bags and whatever else we dumped on the way in the door.
Last January I decided after nine years in our house, and no longer needing to park a double buggy in the hallway that enough was enough and I engaged Smart Storage to clean up my act. (I’d seen the company on Dragons’ Den a few years ago)
I checked my measurements and phoned up and had a really informative call with the sales lady, who discussed my options and price. I knew that I wanted to hang coats but wanted some “free storage” too, not just drawers so I opted for the “three drawers with a double tall boy” option. I paid extra for 10cm additional depth and also for a shoe rack in the front drawer. The bill came to just under €800 supplied and fitted based on my own measurements and requirements.
We booked a date for the fitting and the fitter arrived as scheduled. He was a lovely man who when he saw my coat hooks I’d bought for inside the double tall boy press offered to hang them since he had his drill out already. He cleaned up after himself and was really patient when the boys asked him a million questions from their perch on the stairs where they watched proceedings.
Smartstorage has changed my life. I love walking into my uncluttered hallway now.
We have one shoe drawer, a massive drawer for the hoover and a random drawer that houses birthday gifts and shopping bags and post and drycleaning and other bits that need somewhere to live.I’m not saying that inside the Smartstorage unit is perfectly tidy but WHO CARES, it’s hidden, behind beautiful clean lines.
Does it work? Hell yes. I’m greeted by order. The kids know where their shoes are, they can reach their coats and are trained to hang them up. The existing IKEA Expedit is still employed inside the unit and I (OK the lovely man) hung coathooks (4 on a piece of wood for €2!) inside at varying heights to make the most of the storage. The press then has coat hooks, and room to store laptop bags, gym bags, hats and gloves etc. I left the 4 basket IKEA Expedit inside it to store fleeces, bags, hats and scarves etc.
Smartstorage is fantastic, it definitely makes my life easier, and like anything that does I often wonder why I didn’t get it sooner. Highly recommended.
never again will I trip over the hoover
Of course it still looks this tidy (COUGH)
Disclosure: Thoughts in this post are my own honest opinion, we paid for the product ourselves and didn’t receive any payment or discounts. I wasn’t asked to write a review, but if you do order on foot of this review do tell Smart Storage what convinced you!
