The entryway to your home is essential because it’s the first thing guests see when they enter. As the old saying goes, “You never have a second chance to make a first impression.” Although it is important to make a good first impression, it’s more important that this area works efficiently so that clutter does not pile up. Here’s a strategy showing how to organize an efficient entryway!
Table of Contents
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Six Steps to Organize an Entryway
Use the 6/P Strategy and do each of the following steps to organize your entryway (if you need info on how to do the 6/P strategy, click here) :
1) Prepare
Set up an area near the foyer with 4 bins for the following categories. Trash, Donate, Relocate, Replace. My foyer does not collect clutter anymore, so I was able to skip this step this year! Woo hoo!!
2) Purge
Remove everything from the space except for the furniture and put everything in one of the four categories
3) Polish
Deep clean the area using a top-down approach. This is one of the easiest areas for me to deep clean. However, I constantly have to remove the dogs’ smudges on the side lights from sticking their cute little noses against the window when looking out and barking at the neighbors walking their dogs!
4) Personalize
It’s time to brainstorm and figure out how to make this area efficient for you and your family. Below is a picture of my printable and an explanation of what I did in this area.
5) Place
Now it’s time to find a place for the items in your bins. Take out the trash. Put your donation bin in your car so you don’t forget about it. Relocate items that don’t belong in the space. Replace all items that do belong in the space.
6) Put Back
Remember, the most important step to having a clutter-free home is to train yourself and your family members to put items back where they belong!!
Now that you know the strategy to organize your entryway, let’s discuss the personalization step in more detail!
HOW I PERSONALIZED OUR FRONT ENTRYWAY
When the boys were young, they went in and out of the front door to catch the school bus. So, we purchased a bench with storage for their backpacks and shoes.
This worked great, and we still have it.
Later, we bought the mirror with coat hooks (at Biltmore House in Asheville, NC), which worked great for the kids to have a place to hang their coats.
Now, the boys enter through the garage, meaning the front entryway has a completely different function during our “almost” empty nest season. This area needs to function mainly for guests rather than family members. Here’s a pic of the entryway.
Here are the changes we made to the area
Mirror
When we have parties, we need to have a place for guests to hang coats since we don’t have a coat closet. When we bought the mirror, we did not realize the hooks were plastic and would be unable to hold the weight of winter coats. So, we had to find metal hooks to replace the plastic ones. This was no easy task since we wanted the holes to line up so we wouldn’t have to patch and paint them. I could not find black hooks that would work, so I had to spray-paint the ones I bought.
Coat Rack
The mirror only has five hooks, so we need to be able to store a lot more coats than that when we have parties. I did not want to line the wall with hooks, so I opted for a coat rack. I found one I liked but did not like the color, so I had to spray paint it.
The inside is organized, but we didn’t stop there.
Our front door was not making a very good first impression, and it was definitely overdue for painting.
Look at it now! Our front door and entryway are ready to welcome guests for holiday gatherings.
We also updated the handset and are really enjoying the keyless entry. See Rich’s tech tip here for more information on how to update your front door hardware.
We’re not done yet. As I said earlier, we usually enter our home through the garage instead of the front door. We have several problems with clutter in that area and need a storage solution. Did you know that most new homes are being built with mudrooms and/or drop zones near the garage entrance? But my home is 22 years old, and I don’t have any built-in areas for storage. Therefore, I will set up a “mudroom” in our garage and a “drop zone” inside the entry door on the wall. Below is my plan for personalizing this area to make it efficient and functional for our needs.
HOW I PERSONALIZED OUR GARAGE ENTRYWAY
Now we have a second entryway we need to organize!
I forgot to take a picture before I purged and polished the area, so you’ll have to believe me when I say it was a mess. As you can see, I’ve never done anything to spruce up its looks; it’s the garage, so who cares? Well, I care, so I decided to do something about it!
Vertical Wall Storage
I want this area to function as a drop zone for items I need when heading out the door, like reusable grocery bags that I always forget to take with me to the store. So I get the plastic bags and inevitably forget to return them to the store for recycling. Oh, the guilt!!! Occasionally, we need rain ponchos, but we can never find them, so we need a place to store them. We also needed a place to put items we regularly use that were landing on our freezer (and then behind the freezer after someone opened it & everything fell down behind it), like hats, gardening gloves, and Rich’s headphones for mowing.
We added the hat wall to store the hats we use when working in the yard. Also added the wire baskets to hold rain gear and bags I need to take to the grocery.
Install Shelves
We added two shelves to hold the black plastic bins. Inside the bins are disposable gloves, baggies, garden gloves, and the headphones Rich wears when mowing. We also added the hooks for the dog leashes and the super cute picture of our two fur babies! I replaced the boot tray under the shelves, so dirty shoes don’t have to go inside!
Incorporate Baskets
I like to take water with me in the car and to the gym and wanted bottles in sight so I wouldn’t forget to take one. Oh dear, do you see a pattern happening here? Forgetful, me, no, never!!
Create a Drop Zone
We don’t have a true drop zone area when we enter our home through the garage, so I will use wall space instead. We’ve had these cute hooks, since the boys were little, they provide a great place to hang jackets and coats.
To this point, we never found a place to store keys because I kept mine in my purse, and Rich put his in the kitchen “junk drawer.” Once everyone in the house started driving, all the sets of keys piled up in the junk drawer, and it’s causing too much clutter. Also, the mail was piling up on the kitchen counter. So, we hung 2 key racks and an organizer to hold mail on the wall across from our coat hooks.
Updated Stairs
This is the part I’m most excited about!! These stairs have looked so plain and unfinished the whole time we’ve lived here. I wanted them to look more like an interior staircase. so I painted the risers and stained the steps. I love how they turned out! If you want to see how I did this, click here for my DIY stair project.
Here is the garage entryway now. Quite a transformation and so much more functional! The icing on the cake is that it looks great too!
Are you excited to organize your entryway now?
Conclusion
In conclusion, creating an efficient entryway involves blending function with style. By incorporating smart storage solutions, establishing designated spaces for daily essentials, and adding a touch of personality, you can transform your entryway into a welcoming and organized space that works for you and your family. With these tips, you’ll enjoy a clutter-free first impression every time you walk through the door!
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Blessings, Rich and Donna
**Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. We appreciate your support. (disclosure policy)
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