Do These 7 Things to Get an Organized Entryway
Follow these rules to whip your entry hall into shape and say goodbye to clutter
Victoria Harrison
August 30, 2019
Editor, Houzz UK and Ireland
Fed up with falling over shoes when you walk through the door? Sick of scrabbling around fruitlessly for an umbrella? These organizing rules will help you transform your entryway from a trip-hazard zone into a gleaming model of efficiency.
1. Pack Away Off-Season Items
The first rule of getting your entryway organized is to think about seasonality. There’s no point in cluttering up valuable entry space with thick winter coats in summer and sandals and beach bags in winter.
Take a good look at your entryway, remove anything that isn’t seasonally appropriate and store it elsewhere. This will allow you to use your entry more effectively and get a clearer picture of what you need to store there.
The first rule of getting your entryway organized is to think about seasonality. There’s no point in cluttering up valuable entry space with thick winter coats in summer and sandals and beach bags in winter.
Take a good look at your entryway, remove anything that isn’t seasonally appropriate and store it elsewhere. This will allow you to use your entry more effectively and get a clearer picture of what you need to store there.
2. Subdivide the Space
Once you’ve cleared away any out-of-season items, it’s time to assess the available storage space. Large cabinets or deep shelves can seem like a good idea at first, but they can also be a shortcut to disorder.
Once you’ve cleared away any out-of-season items, it’s time to assess the available storage space. Large cabinets or deep shelves can seem like a good idea at first, but they can also be a shortcut to disorder.
Better to divide the space instead and create smaller cubbyholes where individual items can be stored and ordered. Then you can either allocate one per family member or allot according to item type — one for scarves, one for bags, one for shoes and so on.
Find a professional organizer on Houzz
Find a professional organizer on Houzz
3. Share Ownership of the Storage
When a space starts to get messy, it can quickly escalate, as everyone assumes the clutter belongs to someone else and no one takes responsibility for the tangled heap of scarves, hats or shoes.
Browse storage bins and boxes in the Houzz Shop
When a space starts to get messy, it can quickly escalate, as everyone assumes the clutter belongs to someone else and no one takes responsibility for the tangled heap of scarves, hats or shoes.
Browse storage bins and boxes in the Houzz Shop
To keep a space tidy, you need to share ownership of it with each member of the household. The easiest way to do this is to assign each family member a shelf or peg. That way, you can clearly see who’s keeping the space tidy and who’s the clutter culprit.
You won’t be able to do this with every item — it may be tidier to store all umbrellas or shopping bags together, for example — but with coats and shoes, it makes sense to give ownership.
10 Organizing Essentials for a Hardworking Mudroom
10 Organizing Essentials for a Hardworking Mudroom
4. Allocate Space for Mail and Keys
Entryways are one of the trickiest areas in the house to organize, because the first thing you do when you walk in from outside is shed layers of clothes and belongings. Each of these items needs a dedicated home to avoid a drifting pileup of small items.
Entryways are one of the trickiest areas in the house to organize, because the first thing you do when you walk in from outside is shed layers of clothes and belongings. Each of these items needs a dedicated home to avoid a drifting pileup of small items.
Keys, mail, umbrellas, takeout menus, pens, lip balm — take stock of the items that usually end up on your entryway table and allocate a storage space for each one.
In addition to making the space look neater, this should help you leave the house faster. You’ll know straight away where to find your keys, wallet and phone, rather than having to frantically rummage through a drawer full of clutter.
7-Day Plan: Get a Spotless, Beautifully Organized Entry Hall
In addition to making the space look neater, this should help you leave the house faster. You’ll know straight away where to find your keys, wallet and phone, rather than having to frantically rummage through a drawer full of clutter.
7-Day Plan: Get a Spotless, Beautifully Organized Entry Hall
5. Don’t Underestimate How Much Shoe Storage You Need
How many pairs of shoes do you own? The number is always higher than you first think and, when you multiply that by the number of people in your household, it’s clear you’re going to need some serious storage to keep all those shoes neat in a busy entryway.
An upright shoe cabinet or rack that runs the length of a hallway will help contain unruly footwear.
Shop for storage cabinets
How many pairs of shoes do you own? The number is always higher than you first think and, when you multiply that by the number of people in your household, it’s clear you’re going to need some serious storage to keep all those shoes neat in a busy entryway.
An upright shoe cabinet or rack that runs the length of a hallway will help contain unruly footwear.
Shop for storage cabinets
There are two ways to organize shoes — either by type or by owner. Choose which way seems more logical to you and stick to it, assigning a space for every pair of seasonally appropriate shoes. (The rest will be stored out of sight elsewhere in the house if you followed step one.)
6. Take It to the Top
In a narrow hallway, you often have to go high to get extra space, as it’s usually not possible to give up floor space for deep cabinets. This might mean investing in a custom storage cabinet if you’re redecorating, or getting creative with off-the-shelf solutions to extend your existing storage space.
In a narrow hallway, you often have to go high to get extra space, as it’s usually not possible to give up floor space for deep cabinets. This might mean investing in a custom storage cabinet if you’re redecorating, or getting creative with off-the-shelf solutions to extend your existing storage space.
If you have an entryway cabinet that doesn’t quite reach the ceiling, you could stack some large boxes neatly on top or add some cubbyholes above it.
Alternatively, if you have one row of hooks or pegs, add another row above or below the existing run to double up on vertical storage space. You might need a step or ladder to reach high pegs or even shelves, but you can use these areas for items that aren’t needed daily.
7. Add a Telephone Table
Remember the telephone table? Before cordless phones and cell phones, it was common to have a dedicated space, often in the hallway, for sitting and making calls. While there’s little need for this these days, as phone calls can happen anywhere in the house, there’s something to be said for bringing back the telephone table.
Remember the telephone table? Before cordless phones and cell phones, it was common to have a dedicated space, often in the hallway, for sitting and making calls. While there’s little need for this these days, as phone calls can happen anywhere in the house, there’s something to be said for bringing back the telephone table.
Why? Not for installing a landline, but for having a dedicated place where you can store and charge your phone in the entry hall, and where you can keep all chargers and cables neatly stored, as in this California entryway.
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@ Annalisa DM, not only that, but when we were living in a Victorian two-up, two-down mid-terrace, there were practicalities like needing to keep the buggy in the hallway (even an 'umbrella' style folded up takes room, a bike (they get stolen/vandalised in Oxford if left outside, even with a padlock), outdoor shoes, coats, hi-viz bike jackets and so on; and everything through the front door. Now, we have walking boots, Nordic sticks, a bin for cat food; and an open staircase in the living room, so none of these tricks for hiding shoes and indoor slippers would work for us either.
What makes me laugh is this 'seasonality' idea. The writer obviously does not live in Britain. We are more likely to get snow on May Day than Christmas Day (it's true - look it up!). Here in rural Wales we can need wellies, flip flops, shorts and overcoats on the same day.. possibly within the same hour.
Sadly, I've rarely seen a proper family hallway on here. They always seem to have the debris of real life cleared away before the photo shoot..
We had snow on 1 May in Oxford around 1979/80; in Italy 1981 were mountain walking and got snowed in at a refuge 1–3 August along with about 8 other people, including a member of the mountain rescue team.