Here is another great guest post, this time from Jessica Perry. Jessica holds a degree in interior design and has her own small firm in the Southwest. She loves helping people incorporate their personalities into their living space.
Enjoy her post:
Your doorway is the last thing you see when you leave your house in the morning and the first thing you see when you come home at night. After it’s been “one of those days” or “one of those mornings,” a cluttered or dirty entrance can be the annoying icing on the stressful cake.
With some organization and a few styling tips, organizing your gateway can be an easy project that you can complete in just a few hours.
Shelves, shelves, shelves
In an entrance, lots of shelves can help you keep things organized. Use boxes or baskets to store gloves, hats and other small items. Stack lunchboxes, school books and other things you don’t want to forget in the same place. Some organization-specific shelves, like ones from VisionDecor.com are practical and very stylish. Shelves that keep everything organized and easy to see will help you get out the door faster and know where to put things when you get home.
Repurpose
The foyer is a great place to reuse old boxes, shelves, chairs or tables. An old child’s dresser is a great place to store shoes or winter items. A living room chair that your style has outgrown can be used as a place to sit when putting on shoes. Second-hand stores always have great old furniture that can be “upcycled” into a great storage space. This is also a great way to show your personal style through some unique pieces of furniture.
Organize Essentials
Can’t find your keys for the hundredth time? Create a place that stores keys, sunglasses and other essentials easily accessible and safe. A decorative box or chest can be used to store your morning must-haves. If you know exactly where they are you can get out the door faster. Create your own vintage look with a board and some hooks to make an old-fashion hotel-style key rack. Label them so you eliminate the classic “you left with my keys” scenario.
Command Centre
A good place to keep to-do lists, chores and important reminders is somewhere you are sure to see it. Hanging a whiteboard or cork board by the entry way can serve as a final reminder right before you walk out the door of things you need to do or people you need to call that day. It is also a good place to put kids’ chore and homework lists so they see them as soon as they get home from school.
What to Do With All the Shoes
Only keep shoes in the foyer that need to be there. Have certain drawers or shelves that everyone can put one or two pairs of shoes they wear often and keep the rest in bedrooms. This will remove clutter and all shuffling and frantically searching for shoes in the morning.
It’s called a mudroom for a reason. Dirt and other outdoor elements get tracked in with your shoes and the mud doesn’t always stay in the mudroom. MarthaStewart.com shared an ingenious idea of using a large tray filled with pebbles to place your muddy and dirty shoes on when you come in the door. Rain snow and dirt will collect in the tray, not in your house. Clean this tray out regularly by removing the pebbles and spraying it off outside.
