I always love working with Porch.com! 4 other Porch bloggers, and myself, got together to show really cool home projects, that anyone can do, for a very reasonable price! Check out my post below AND the other 4, very fun, ideas here!

It always seems the busier the day the messier my house becomes! I find that these busy, messy, and sometimes crazy days were starting to add up, and it was hard to keep up. So…I created a space that would allow for more organization in my life! I like to call this area a "drop spot," meaning a place you can drop all of your things when you get home from your busy day. But, I also wanted the area to be organized, nice looking, but also add a little inspiration!

The "farmhouse" look is a style I have been drawn to recently, and wanted I to add that welcoming farmhouse feel to my "drop spot." I found a simple message board with chicken wire at Michael's Arts and Crafts. The key to shopping at Michael's is having a coupon, which you can find on their website and can be used from your phone. I liked the idea of having a message board in this area to keep pictures, invitations, and the chalkboard is a great place to write messages for the day. I created a farmhouse feel by painting the plain wood on the board three different colors to make it look more rustic.

We are always looking for a place to put mail in our house, so it was a necessity to add a place for it in the drop spot. Adding to the farmhouse feel I made one out of chicken wire. Each roll is inexpensive and fairly long, so making them for family and friends is easy! The last thing I wanted to add to the area was a place to set keys, so I put a couple of picture hooks on the bottom of the drop spot. They hang easily from the wire, and give your keys a simple place to always be found.

As renters in Southern California, we are always careful about putting holes in the wall. Since this is not a place we plan on being forever we want to make sure to take care of it. I like using 3M hooks to hang both the message board and the mail holder. You can use nails if you wish, but I don’t have a post yet on how to fill in wall holes

DIY Drop Spot For Your Home

message board

paint; dark brown, light brown, and white/cream

painter's tape; optional

small clothespins to hang pictures on the message board

chicken wire; the size of the holes doesn't matter, use what you like!

industrial strength glue; optional, but it's good to secure the mail holder

picture hooks; optional as a hook for keys

wire cutters

long nose pliers

Directions

*Place the message board on a covered surface

*If you have painters tape, place it around the chalkboard message area

*First paint with the dark brown color, follow up with the lighter brown color, and lastly the white/cream color; the paint will dry pretty fast so you don't really need to wait for each paint to dry

*To get the rustic farmhouse feel, don't make it perfect! Add more dark to one area, more light to another area

*Allow to dry completely, then remove the tape

* For the mail holder, measure the area where you plan on hanging it

*Cut the chicken wire with wire cutters to a little larger than the measured area

*Make a "T" shape by cutting the size; to figure out how much to cut, see how wide you want the holder to be; if you want it to be 3 inches wide, then cut three inches (See pictures)

*Fold about a 1/2 inch of the side of the chicken wire that is facing up

*Fold in the "wings" of the "T" shape to make the shape of the holder

*You can achieve this by simply bending the wire

*Once shaped, use the needle nose pliers to fold over the sharp edges

*Use the industrial strength glue to secure the sides; optional

*Place the 3M hooks on the wall where you plan on hanging the message board and mail holder

*Once you hang everything, place the picture hook onto the mail holder in a convenient place