Every home has one thing in common, a front door. Whether your entryway is complete with a full coat closet or just a hat rack, once you open your door, you are making a statement to your guests. What is your entryway saying to your guests? “I have kids,” “I don’t have enough room,” or simply “I have too much stuff.” How do you feel when you come home and open your door?
With New Year’s resolutions in the forefront of your minds, let’s make your entryway everything it could be and everything you want and need it to be. In one afternoon, you can transform your entryway or mudroom and make a profound statement for your family’s home.
Let’s be realistic, your entryway only needs to hold the basics for when you walk out the door and what you have in your hands when you come in. The entry in your home has a tendency to get congested quickly with all of those things you shed when you first walk in the door such as coats, boots, hats and mittens, backpacks, purses, mail, keys, cell phone, the list goes on and on. If you have a home that has a very limited entry being creative with your storage is essential.
For example: in my home, my entryway sits at the bottom of the stairs to the second floor and has a minimal closet and no wall space to set a bench or chair. Every morning my children walk through all of the mud, dirt and salt that has been tracked in from the day before. This space has by far been the most challenging to organize.
First you want to begin with the floor. Having a rug or door mat bigger than the first step in the door will keep your floors clean and in good shape. This rug should be water resistant but also wick away the moisture. Next is proper storage for shoes and boots. All wet footwear needs to be placed on boot trays so that the moisture isn’t damaging the surface of your floors. One piece that is crucial in your entry is a place to sit when putting on or removing footwear. When choosing this piece of furniture search for multipurpose items, or get creative by designing your own.
With my own lack of space, I chose to remove my coat closet doors and remove the coat rod. I installed a sturdy “shelf” at chair height as a bench. By installing this bench, I purposely left it empty underneath to place boot trays and baskets to hold extra shoes.
Once you have the seat ready then it is time to sort shoes. Only keep daily shoes near the door; store all extra shoes and boots that are worn occasionally in the garage or in a bedroom closet. If you have a large family or lots of shoes, over the door hanging systems can work great to maintain the clutter of footwear.
The next biggest source of clutter in your entry is the outerwear. Especially in our area, bulky coats and hats and mittens are a must. Be sure that there is adequate hanging storage for each piece. For every day wear, a simple hanging coat rack keeps jackets out and accessible. To eliminate the “floor” option for kids, place a coat rack within their reach and encourage that they place their own outerwear on their own special hook. Keep all out of season outerwear stored in either vacuum seal bags or hanging in a different area. The same over the door hanging system works excellent to hold gloves/mittens and hats. This system also keeps pairs together to eliminate time spent searching. Baskets stored above or below the coat rack or in the closet within close reach also work well for storage of these small items. In addition to having adequate hanging storage for jackets, also consider a second hook for each backpack or purse. This keeps these items up off the floor and eliminates risk of tripping.
One of the biggest sources of frustration for most organizing clients is the handling of incoming and outgoing mail as well as keeping track of cell phones and car keys. Professional Organizers around the U.S. are encouraging clients to implement a family “launch pad”; a small place to store sorted mail, hanging car keys, and charge cell phones. The general idea is that if everything has a place with maintenance nothing will be lost or out of place. This is also a great place to place your home phone and answering machine as well as phone books, directories and family calendars. Your launch pad is also a great place to put a white board/cork board to place notes and reminders for members of your family.
By taking the time to organize your entryway you can minimize the time you spend getting out the door in the morning and reduce the stress of misplaced keys.
For more creative tips and tricks for organizing your entryway or mudroom attend my CERC workshop from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. Contact Community Education, 283-2571, to register.
Bergstrom, of Littlefork, is a professional organizer and consultant.
