Good morning everyone!
Well this week has been a good one. The weather is warming. I started back at my work as an RN, which felt like a HUGE shift from where we've been, stuck in our house for the past 6 weeks. And to top it all off, today I am starting a new series of blog posts I am calling the
Essentials Series!
Each month I will be going through a different area of the home to discuss essentials that are necessary for organization in that space. Then, I will break them down each week to show exactly how to organize that area.
I'm so excited for this!
To kick it off, we are starting with the Entryway!
Now the entryway, it is a handful at my house. Let me tell you why.
Here in our neck of the woods, we have 4 seasons. Okay, I know that TECHNICALLY everywhere has winter, spring, summer and fall, but I would like to say that until you have experienced feet of snow requiring full winter gear, as well as +30 weather, you are not experiencing the full extent of the seasons available to you!!
At this time, I would like to invite you to visit the wonderful nation of Canada if you have not been here! Especially Alberta! I may be biased, but it is gorgeous ;)
The reason I am discussing the weather with you today is that when you live in a place with those 4 designated seasons, you have a LOT of different outerwear, shoes and accessories. And these things all get stored in 1 place:
The Entryway!
So what items do I consider essential for an entryway? Let me tell you right now!
1) Shoe Storage
Okay I'm going to be honest. I consider this to be the MOST IMPORTANT of all entryway essentials. I live in a house with 5 people who all have sports shoes, church shoes, rain boots, snow boots, sandals, etc. The list goes on!
We have A LOT of shoes in this house.
And how you store your shoes is sometimes the one thing that can make or break an entryway.
I suggest a basket, some shelving, or a beautiful cabinet like this one from www.themummyfront.com
I will be doing a detailed post on entryway shoe storage next week - sign up for my e-mail list here to be notified!
2) Storage for Accessories (Umbrellas, Mittens, Scarves, Hats, etc.)
If you live where I live, this is essential. Imperative really. Not only do we require the storage for mittens, scarves, hats, toques, and umbrellas, but we also need drying racks for those items.
I find bins work the best for this, any and all types.
I will be tackling this portion of our entryways in week 2 of the entryway essentials posts!
This picture from apartment modern has so much storage for small items - what a gorgeous space!
3) Purse, Backpack and Bag Storage
Some of us have children who need somewhere to hang their backpacks at the end of the day, and all of us have a bag of some kind whether that is a purse, a work bag or maybe even both!
These items need a place to live as much as any other item in your home, perhaps even more as this is what you grab on your way out to take on the world.
I like to use hooks as seen here from ellisonmade.com for backpacks, but like to keep my work bag and purse in a basket.
4) Command Centre
Now let me say right off the bat, this does NOT have to be fancy. But I do believe you need a place for papers coming into your home, and mine consists of the following:
a to do folder
a to file folder
a home management binder
You can read all about a home management binder and what that entails in this post.
If you so desire, this can also become a place for weekly meal plans, a calendar, and outgoing mail like this photo from www.morganizewithme.com. But feel free to customize it to suit your families needs and wants.
5) Key Storage
Last but not least, everyone needs a designated space to store their keys, sunglasses and wallet.
So often we just toss our keys in a drawer or worse, they get left in our coat pockets much to the chagrin of our significant others (yep, my hand is up here.)
With a designated location for keys and sunglasses, you will always know where to find them when you need them!
I am by no means affiliated with this vendor, but this beautiful key rack is from Urban Alloy on www.etsy.com and I think it's gorgeous!
If you have all of these 5 organizational points in your entryway, and they work for you and your family, your entryway should stay a beautiful and organized room to step into your home.
Stay tuned for the look into how to perfect shoe storage that works for you next week on the blog!
Happy Organizing,
Jerilyn
It is so beautiful! We are so blessed to live here!
Canada is so beautiful, isn’t it?? But the messiness of the changing seasons is something else. Thanks for all the tips!