Create an organised entrance to your home – even in small spaces.
The most perfect and organised homes have beautiful entryways with a place for everything. But you can still have an organised, tidy and useful system in your home even if you live in a tiny space. All you need is a shelf or two and a little imagination and you’ll be just as efficient as those people who have perfect hallways.
Having a special place to keep the incomings and outgoings of day to day living can simplify your life and keep your home cleaner and tidier.
Everyone’s needs will be different but here are the items that most of us will need:
- An interior doormat to prevent the dirt or moisture from our shoes (or pet’s feet) from making too many inroads into our homes
- A place to hang your coat, bag, umbrella, dog leash — the number of items you take out of the house daily will determine the number of hooks you’ll need
- Somewhere to put items such as your keys, wallet, phone and other items that you won’t leave the house without
- A basket, rack or bowl for mail, incoming and outgoing
Not essential, but a good idea:
- A small mirror so that you can check your appearance before you leave home
- A small waste basket
- A pinboard or somewhere to leave notes and reminders
- Something pretty – a decorative item that will make your area attractive so that you’ll enjoy the minute or so that it takes you to organise your life when you arrive home
This can be achieved in even the tiniest space and by using the area every day on your way into and out of your home, you’ll reduce clutter and stress. (Not being able to find your car keys when you’re already late for work can really get your day off to a stressful start.)
When you arrive home:
- Hang up your ‘hangables – your coat, bag and so on
- Put your keys, loose change and other small items (sunglasses, wallet etc.) into their designated bowl or box
- Sort the mail into important, read later and junk. File accordingly
- Toss anything you don’t need – junk mail, supermarket register receipts, discarded envelopes and so on right into the trash
There are many products available that will handle several functions even in a tiny space. I like the one you see here because it has hooks for your keys, scarf and so on, a small pin board for reminders and several compartments for mail.
It is only four and a half inches deep so will take up very little of your valuable space. It’s available in other colours too. If space is really at a premium, you can hang a bag from one of the hooks that can act as your waste bin or recycling depot.
You can use an attractive and inexpensive fabric bag if you wish. Choose something slim that will match your décor.
I like to use those extremely inexpensive paper gift bags because they are available in a variety of colours and designs. They are a cheap way to change the look of your entryway décor too.
If you have the space, add a floating shelf below – like the one you see here. 
There are many decorative boxes available that can store your loose change and other bits and pieces you’ll need. I like this set. It’s attractive and because the largest box is five and a half inches square, they fit perfectly on the shelf you see above.
In the tiniest one keep the thumb tacks that you’ll be using to attach reminders and notes to your pinboard. Use the others for post-it notes, coupons, business cards and for keeping other items of clutter under control.
These three simple products can make a world of difference to your day and the organisation of your home.
The shelves you see below are incredibly stylish and are ideal for creating an organised entryway. As you can see, they are cleverly designed so that items can be place on them or hung from them.
They can be used horizontally or vertically and are available in black or white.
Imagine the vertical shelves that you see on the right with an almost full length mirror in between them. They can help you to create a fabulously organised and stylish entryway.
They have plenty of room for storage boxes and are roomy enough to hold decorative items too. They are sold in packs of two and you can find out more here.
The landing strip
Small space expert and interior design Maxwell Ryan called the entryway organising system ‘the landing strip’. I guess that’s because when you ‘land’ home you ‘strip’ yourself of the items that don’t need to go into your main living space.
No matter how small an area you have to work with,you’ll find that a landing strip will keep your life more organised and your home clutter-free. See Maxwell’s explanation in the video below.
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