Four Pieces of Furniture

Our mudroom (I insist on calling it a mudroom, despite the fact that every other person who comes in to our house calls it a sun porch or even a three-season porch, completely ignoring the fact that it is connected to both our kitchen and bathroom with no way of closing it off during the winter, making it, in fact, a four-season room, but I digress) needs some help. Currently there is a table and a cat tree in there.  Note: A better person would have straightened up some before taking this photos - I am not a better person.

To the right when you walk into the mudroom:

Extra bonus: Zelda photobomb!

I dream of a hall tree for hanging bicycle helmets during cycling seasons and coats during non-cycling seasons.  I am desirous of hooks on top and storage in the form of a bench seat under. I imagine putting cycling stuff there so we don't have pumps, lights, and locks littering our mudroom table all the damn time. I would like to put this a little bit to the left of where the table is and slide the table over to the right.  That would make me happy.

I am less desirous of a mirror on top of this piece, but most reasonably priced hall trees have mirrors, so I guess I might just have to suck it up. I also do not want any cushion on the bench because I have a cat who immediately thinks upholstered items are hers to scratch and I don't want to have to spend months training her not to scratch it.  I mean, I did that for the couch and loveseat and that's all I'm willing to do.

For this room, I'd also like window seating with closed storage under the windows right next to the door to the outside. This storage might be workout stuff. Or it might be winter things. We currently have a blue Tupperware tote the size of my desk filled with mittens, gloves, scarves, snowpants, and assorted other THINGS that we use for the five coldest months out of the year and it would be nice to have someplace we can just put those things and not have to keep moving it in and out of storage. Anyway. This also means someone can sit down and take off their shoes as soon as they walk in the door instead of TRUDGING ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE LEAVING WET FOOTPRINTS.  Ahem. Pet peeve.

Many benches have backs, which we don't want because it's going to go right under our windows. Others have upholstery which we don't want because cat. And others have open storage which seems like it would just be a place for the cat to hide/get fur all over everything. I thought this would be EASY, but I have been proven incorrect about this.

Okay, so let's move from the mudroom to the front room. It's a big room and we've divided it into two spaces. One space has our television and couches

Okay, YES, I could have cleaned up. Whatever.

 and then there's this on the other side:

The rocking chair will stay. We'll throw a blanket over it and call it good. Dr. BB's dad's friends have offered us a rug that will probably go there. And I want a desk here. I would LOVE a rolltop, but we're eying a secretary that we found at an antique shop recently.  So something like this might be nice between the windows.

We also need storage for workout gear. I access this near daily, so it can't be out of the way or I'll be annoyed daily which is the opposite of how I want to live my life, so we're going to probably just get an good old-fashioned steamer trunk. It will fit my weight set, yoga mat, balance ball, and assorted other move your body about accoutrements.

We'd also like to get new dressers to match our bedroom set, more bookshelves, and a new table for the mudroom so the table in the mudroom can go in the hobby room, but these four pieces of furniture are really my priorities right now and what I'm seriously stalking antiques shops for.

What should a reasonable budget be for someone who's willing to do some work hiking to antique-y places? I'm thinking $2000, but the desk we're looking at is $700, a hall bench I've been eyeing at an Amish store is about the same price, and I've yet to come across either a bench or trunk I love yet. Maybe that budget is a little low?

Anyway, what else should we put in that front room? It's a gorgeous space and I feel like it's just going to end up being storage!!! Help a girl out.