Ask the Freak ~ Organizing the Entryway

I received this email in response to my Command Center post:

I have the same dilemma that you recently posted about. My house opens right into my kitchen. I always have shoes and my purse and my work bag laying on the floor in the kitchen when I get home. We also have a dishwasher in the entrance corner that has a counter space which I think would be a great place for a starting place but… I can’t figure out what/how to deal with it.

My husband tells me that I like to organize but don’t use the organization… I told him it is because I haven’t found the right way to organize it yet.

I’m at a loss. Excuse the mess but we just ate breakfast and haven’t cleaned for the day!!!

The plastic bag hanging on the door is stuff to return to the store.

There is a small set of hooks to hang the jackets as you can see. I would leave the jacket on the porch if it wasn’t 20 degrees out side right now… I’m in Maine.

Mail gets thrown on the counter above the dishwasher, I have been pretty good about throwing out the junk stuff right away but I can’t seem to do something with the rest. I have a binder to organize stuff but haven’t figured out how to use it yet!!!

I’m a high school math teacher and I am extremely organized there but just can’t seem to get it together at home.

I need HELP…. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.!!!!!!

Here are the pictures of her entryway:

Instantly when I look at these pictures I can see a few changes this reader, I’m going to call her Elle, can make to allow her front door entry space to function a little more efficiently. The problem here is none of the things on her dishwasher or on her floor have homes (designated spaces) so we definitely need solutions here that create homes for all of these things.

First I definitely think she has room for a bench by the door there, something with some storage underneath to help her get her stuff up and off the floor so no one is tripping over shoes and bags. Ideally it would be big enough to house not only the shoes but also an I’m Outta Here Shelf for her returns and things. Elle didn’t say what her budget was but I tried to keep all my suggestions reasonable.

So let’s get started with one of my favorite bench options (click on the pictures for source information):

The bench lifts up for shoe storage and the little cupboard would be perfect for things that need to be returned or even her purse/bag. The drawer could be used for sunglasses, cellphones, wallets, etc.

I would love to see this shelf below hanging above the bench for the coats. I would then add some nice baskets in the cubbies to hold things like hats, suntan lotion and other things that are handy to keep by the door for easy access.

Here are some other bench options that are also very nice and a little less expensive:

Two of these (below) side by side might also work and then they could also be wheeled over for additional seating around the table if needed.

Now as for over Elle’s dishwasher, she has some valuable space there on the walls not being utilized. I would definitely suggest implementing some of the ideas I mentioned in my Command Center post to try and corral the mail a little bit and get it off the counter. I think it’s important to try and keep our counters as clutter free as possible in order to avoid paper getting buried in piles, not to mention the visual distraction those piles provide.

Here are some additional options to the ones I posted about in my Command Center post:

My friend Amber uses an inexpensive pot lid holder as a mail sorter which works great. I blogged about it here. Below is also another very inexpensive option:

For a clever do it yourself project I found this oh so adorable organizer on the Martha Stewart site. If you are handy (which I’m totally not) instructions on how to make it are here.

I hope you find that helpful Elle. Happy Organizing!

Tagged as: command center