Entryway

Executive Summary: Our entryway is probably the most functional space in our home. We keep shoes outside the door, and everything we need within easy reach so coming and going is a quick affair, especially when we have cats, er kids, to herd.

Welcome to our home! Like so much else in my life, I prefer to keep this space smart and simple. The first thing you see when you walk down the shared hallway of our apartment is this niche leading to our front door.

*Shoe rack: Yamazaki Home* | *Console table: Yamazaki Home* | *Water pitcher: HomeGoods*

We are a shoes-off family, and I love being able to leave our shoes outside our unit. I hate tracking crud in and having to constantly wipe the floors because a curious baby/toddler will pick up every tiny piece of debris off the floor and eat it (been there, done that). I am very pleased with this console table + shoe rack setup (one of the few things in life I am 100% satisfied with, lol). You might think that we bump into the console or the shoes, as they look like they (barely) jut into the door, but that never happens. Given they are placed on the side of the hinges, we don’t naturally walk there anyway. I don’t feel like I’m giving up any space, but gaining a ton of functionality.

Ok, I admit I cheated a little bit here – we do have a stroller that sits in the hallway when not in use. It’s compact, so it doesn’t take up much real estate, and it’s outside the frame of this photo. I could of course fold it up and stash it somewhere else, but it would get annoying to do that multiple times a day. It’s temporary though – kids outgrow things in the blink of an eye!

Now, stepping inside, the key to being organized is our series of wall hooks and bowls/baskets.

*Wall hooks: Amazon Basics* | *Red star: Amazon* | *Small bowl: flea market in Lisbon* | *Black wire basket: Target* | *Acacia bench: IKEA Skogsta*

I took this picture standing in our hallway, facing the front door. This space contains everything we need to breeze in and out without hunting for misplaced items. On the hooks are our umbrellas, hats, and keys; in the small bowl are our wallets and sunglasses; in the wire basket are any outdoor clothing we might need, plus sunscreen. My purse lives here, to be easily grabbed on my way out. With the bench underneath the counter, I have a surface to temporarily drop things after walking inside (so I can chase the kids around to wash their hands before they touch everything). Any unsightly bags go in the cupboard (technically in the kitchen) right next to the front door. This is also where we stash the kid’s backpack and school papers, so they don’t get tossed all over the place.

The one other thing we reach for a couple times a day is the baby carrier. It lives in the hallway closet only a few steps away (it’s too awkwardly shaped to hang on a wall hook). This brings me to our hallway in general. Here we have 10 wall hooks (two strips of 5 lined up) for jackets and more. In fact, I use the last hook on the left for my bath towel. I love Turkish towels because they are fast-drying and don’t scream “bathroom!” This could just as easily be a shawl/wrap/clothing item that fits right in with our outdoor gear, so it’ll be our little secret. ;-)

The last thing I’ll mention is that picture on the wall you saw peeking out. Below is a closer up look. This picture is actually covering up the electric panel board – you know, those with the gray metal covers that swing out and contain the circuit breakers (is my terminology abysmally wrong here?) It’s not hidden in a closet or anything; it’s just sitting stark on the wall in the entryway, and I didn’t like looking at it constantly in such a prominent place. So I hung this DIY picture over it, and opted for a light plastic poster frame that is easy to remove and put back if we ever need access to the circuit breakers. That’s happened exactly once in the 2.5 years we’ve been here, so 99.999999% of the time, that picture is untouched. Mission to hide eyesore accomplished.

I know we have it easy in California where we don’t need winter boots and four layers of jackets every time we step outside, but we had a similar entryway setup when we were in New Jersey (which gets snow and real winters, albeit not super brutal). It’s really about having a system for coming in and out … plus hooks, hooks, hooks.

Main Living Area