Small Space Organizing: Entryway

Keeping a small space organized with eight people in the family can be quite a challenge.  One of the most challenging areas to keep under control is where the coats, coveralls, mud boots, shoes, gloves etc are by the back door.  Eventually we would like to build a mud room/porch on our cabin but in the mean time we have to make the best use of the space we have.

For this area I used an old coat rack that has 7 hooks.  (Sometimes even this isn’t enough!)   I used shelf brackets that I found on the clearance rack at Orscheln’s and particle board shelves that were part of an old book shelf.  (Some of the pieces had gotten wet in storage and were no longer able to be used so we couldn’t put it together as a book shelf.) By using those pieces that were still good as shoe shelves we were able to repurpose something that would have otherwise been tossed out.

The goal is to keep the good shoes and boots up on the shelves so that muddy shoes aren’t being set on top of them.  The muddy shoes and boots are used the most often so we keep them on the outside edge.  There is also a small shelf in the corner that you can’t really see because of the clothes.  It is on that shelf that we keep the girls sandals and nicer shoes.

Although the throw rugs look clean here, I assure you they don’t stay this way!  The beauty of using all those mismatched throw rugs is that I can easily pick them up and wash them.  We have lots of mud that gets tracked into our house because this time of year it rains often.  That also means I wash throw rugs pretty often as well.

I have sorted out stocking hats and snow pants with the hope that we will not be needing them anymore this season.  During the winter, the stocking hats were on the top shelf along with the gloves.  When the snow pants were hung up, the hanging clothes just stuck out a lot more.  We only hang our “old” or farm coats on this rack.  I hung a separate coat rack by the back door and that is where we hang the better coats and jackets.  That way we aren’t putting dirty coats on top of good ones.

I still need to add more shelves throughout our cabin to make better use of our space, but I am happy with the way this area turned out.  Now if only I could keep it looking so clean!

What space do you struggle with keeping organized?  What helpful tips do you have that help keep things neat and clean?

Blessings,

Jennifer

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