The Benefits of Having an Entryway or Mudroom with Ample Storage
The chill of late fall and winter is finally here, which means bundling up in down parkas, scarves, hats and gloves. When snow falls in a few short weeks, you’ll add winter boots to the mix, too.
The best place to keep all of this gear is near the door; the chance of you and your kids returning their cold-weather accessories and school bags to a bedroom closet or a distant coat closet is slim. Instead, it makes sense to create a storage area near the entrance you use every day.
Entry storage solutions aren’t just for homes with a dedicated foyer. As long as there’s enough space near the door (front, back, garage, whatever!), you can create an area where everything has its proper home.
First Things First: Banish Clutter
Before you begin planning your entryway or mudroom storage, get a good idea of what you need to store. If your entryway is a landing zone for things that you’d ultimately like to store someplace else, clear those things away before assessing how much and what type of storage you need. You might be surprised to learn that it’s less than you think, once unnecessary clutter is out of the way. With the addition of baskets, drawers or rollouts, any small items that pile up can at least be stored neatly before they’re put away.
On the other hand, you should be honest with yourself. If items end up getting stored in your entryway the majority of the time—your mail or your kids’ lunch boxes, for example—then you should plan to incorporate storage for them. A shelf or some rollouts will do the trick. Maximizing space and creating enough storage will help your entryway stay clutter-free.
A Bench with Shoe Storage is Smart
What happens when you walk through the door? If you’re like many people, you kick off your shoes or even place them neatly together against the wall. If you add an entryway bench with storage underneath, the whole area will look tidier—and it’ll help you keep your family from tracking dirt and snow through your house. For a truly streamlined look, you can also add doors to the under-bench storage.
Coat Storage Can be Hidden … or Not
Adults usually have no problem taking off a coat and hanging it in a closet or wardrobe. But in a household with kids, hooks in open areas function better. They’re easier to reach and require less effort.
You can also have both a wardrobe-style closet plus a row of hooks. This is a good idea if your storage area is smaller and the hooks are mounted above a bench. Short jackets can hang above the bench, and longer coats can go inside the wardrobe.
Add Cabinets, Shelves and Rollouts for Everything Else
In addition to a few coats, a pair or two of shoes and your work or school bag, there’s everything else you take with you when you leave for the day—hats, sports equipment, gloves, scarves, pet accessories and more. If you’ve got the room, add a cabinet or two, some shelves and baskets or a few convenient rollouts. Corralling odds and ends near the door creates a place for them to live and minimizes the chance of losing one glove or misplacing the dog’s leash (again!).
Entryway or mudroom storage doesn’t have to be elaborate, and it doesn’t have to be built in. Even a few feet along a wall is enough space to create an attractive, hardworking organization center that everyone can use.
When you work with the Designers at The Closet Works, you’ll end up with the right components in the right size for the space that you’ve got. It might be nothing but a bare wall right now. But once installed, your entryway storage system will look like it was born to be there. Because it was. Schedule a free design consultation today.
