Work with all of the wall. Even if you only have two or three feet of wall space to use, you'd be surprised how much you can fit. Work vertically, as in Image 3, with hooks and hanging storage to maximize your entry area. If you're going horizontally, opt for consoles or shelving with a narrow profile.
Edit and prioritize what needs to be right by the door. If you have a closet that can store coats, you might decide not to dedicate hooks for them by the door (Images 4 and 5). Otherwise, you'll want a few, and coat storage might be your entryway priority (Image 7). No matter what, you'll want to keep track of your mail and keys.
Make things work double-duty. In the first image, the desk functions as a regular work spot, but it's also a place to plunk down a purse and stow mail out of sight. The coat rack in Image 8 has an integrated shelf on top, and the last image shows a bench that also helps wrangle shoes. I wouldn't be surprised if the upholstered ottomans in Images 2 and 5 open to reveal shoe storage too.
Make the entry area a continuation of the rest of your home. Instead of focusing on the lack of a dedicated entry space, concentrate on making the space play nicely with its very immediate surroundings. In the first image, the entry desk chair coordinates with a lounge chair. In Image 4, the table that stores keys, etc., fits in perfectly as a side table to the couch next to it. In Image 9, the area adjacent to the door is reserved for hooks, but additional entry storage comes in the form of shelves that fit right into the room.
Have fun with the details. Incorporate a cool mirror, a favorite art print, interesting hooks, and good-looking baskets.
MORE ENTRYWAYS ON APARTMENT THERAPY:
• The Entryway Desk: A Smart Multipurpose Solution
• Entryway Spruce Up: Making a Good First Impression
• 6 Components to a Well-Functioning Landing Strip
• Entryway Solutions for Small Spaces
(Images: 1. Liz Fabry for Apartment Therapy 2. Young House Love 3. Better Homes and Gardens 4. Flickr user TV's Jessica licensed via Creative Commons 5. Canadian House and Home 6. via My Rental Pad 7. The Little House in the City 8. via Fresh Home 9. Apartment Therapy 10. Hindsvik at Home)
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I love #8, very chic. although I would swear that the adorable rose-pink bag says "acne" which is very odd.
Haha, I just noticed that store in NYC the other day. We thought it an odd name too.
Some of those entryways ARE full-fledged entryways!
Would love to see some solutions for a typical split-entry. Ours is narrow and empty (figuring nothing is better than the wrong something).
I'm lucky to have a coat closet, but my door is straight in a narrow-ish hallway with the closet on one side, and the kitchen door on the other side. The living room/dinning room/home office room is at the other end of the hallway. No real "entry space".
I recently put the shoe rack in the closet, and used a low bright red cabinet I had to keep my printer paper, and craft stuff. I still have that stuff on the lower shelves (my apartment is small, so everything has to be greatly functional) but emptied out the full length drawer to put shopping bags and such and put our "junk baskets" the mail holder and the dog bag basket (yup!) on top along with a few decorations.
I have a long black rug with red flowers and green leaves (over really really bad wood floor), so the red in the cabinet brings the red in the carpet right out. It turned out really great! Everything we need is right by the door, but it's not looking "junky" anymore.
So proud!
Yes, split entry way solutions please! I have no idea what to do with mine and parts of these pictures give me ideas...but I'm still at a loss. It can get cramped down there!
Great ideas, I like the yellow bick road carpet, it brings a joyous note to a no entry way entrance way, I also think a small dog or a cat works well.
Useful post no entryway is always a dilemma, thanks,
decogirlmontreal.com
Sometimes you can build a 8" wide x 3' long half wall at the more open side of the entry which might define the area yet not take up valuable space. A great place to leave your car keys. In France they call this a vide poche. On the other side of this short wall you can build in shelves for books, etc.
Yes, split entry/split foyer solutions, please!!!!!
@Yakkodot and DBroder1: Acne is a Swedish design collective, it stands for "Ambition to Create Novel Expression." Acne Studio is their fashion label. I'd imagine the word "acne" doesn't mean the same thing in Swedish as it does in English. ;)
Some good ideas here. I have the worst entry - my door opens facing the hallway wall, so you can't hardly step in the door - it's especially bad when I come home with groceries. I've moved the shoe rack to the tiny closet, and I've also set up a very narrow shoe cabinet from Ikea. It's only 8" deep, and I couldn't fit much more without interfering with the door function. But the cabinet is great to store shoes, gloves, hats, etc, and is the place where we drop our keys and mail.
I'd love to trade in my boring grey floor mat from Home Depot to something more playful. I just would hate to stomp on a beautiful rug with muddy boots!
We have a similar problem to people with a split entry: it's not on a different level, but it is a TINY, but defined space off of the living room, and no graceful way to expand it into the living room. When I'm coming in with my kids, it's a huge log jam because only one person can get in and get their boots off at a time.
All are inspiring, I like my entry with my antique buffet with a pottery tray made by my niece for keys and it provides storage for items I need in a hurry and to store mail. These pics have given me more ideas to upgrade it. I may add a small ottoman for storage and sit on while putting on footwear.
Our entryway is a single long narrow hallway--no room for any furniture at all, and hanging things on the walls seems like it would make it seem even smaller and more cluttered. I have yet to see a workable solution for it, but would love some ideas.
How about everyone take their coats, etc to their room? I lived in a place just like this and I hated seeking coats on a hook in plain view.
These little wooden drawers on the 3rd picture would be perfect to solve my entryway problems!
If only AT could give some info about the source!
This is actually the second time I see a photo of these wooden drawers on AT, and still no source! I thought they were from Ikea, but I never see them in the store or on the website. This is getting so frustrating....
If someone knows where to get them, please post!
Thanks for posting these ideas! I'm feeling a bit ignorant, but I'm assuming that a split entryway is when you enter on a different floor than the living area? If so, heeeeeeelp! We have a 3 story townhouse- on the bottom floor is a garage that opens onto a long, narrow hallway. The hallway's about 20 feet long- the stairs up to the second level form one of the walls, and the door to the little-used guest bedroom is on the other wall. To get upstairs, it's a little jaunt off the hallway. It leaves us with about a 3.5-4 foot by 4 foot square space at the bottom of the stairs. The hallway is pretty narrow, so I don't know that storage in the hallway would be practical. Right now, we have a shoe rack at the bottom of the stairs that's about 10-12 inches deep. Does any of you have any suggestions for something that has a really thin profile but would provide us with some functional, stylish storage? We're a family of four with two little ones- we try to keep their gear as minimal as possible, but it's still quite a bit of stuff to find a home for.
I agree with @claireny! If someone knows where to get those hanging wooden drawers, please post! I love them!
Am I alone in hating the clutter of entry way hooks and "landing strips"? I mean it's cute for a farmhouse aesthetic or something but I would never live in a farmhouse either so....
very useful post, thanks!
My door opens into my living room but it is off to one side (not centered). We put a sofa table along the wall it is closest to but far enough back so the door won't hit it if it is open. We put a lamp and a sculpture on top and a basket for mail on the bottom shelf and hung a painting on the wall above it. This setup helps define the space, looks nice, and works with the rest of the living room.
I must say that we live in California and don't have to deal with muddy shoes or boots very often. When we do, we go in the back door, removing our footwear on the patio before we come in. I would think a bench to sit on while removing shoes would work. You could put the shoes under the bench and have a mail basket on one side of the bench.
Some of these are actual entry ways. I have a house where you open the front door directly into the middle of the living room. We split the living area in half so that there is a couch and two chairs on one side and a dining table on the other, but the dining table just becomes the landing strip/junk pile. I have yet to see any solutions that actually work here. We do have coat hooks in the stairwell across the room, so that helps but the mail is always a mess. Frankly, I have never understood how anyone designed an efficient living room set up with a door that opens into the middle of the living room.
@felttipjr: no. You are not alone.
Fortunately I don't have the option to do anything at all, because my door opens up to... a narrow staircase. No room for shelves, hooks, etc. Walk up, you're in the living room. Ahh, rentals. I have two staircases in a one-floor apartment.
Love this post, because I haven't finished my own and it's only about 2' wide, this gives me several ideas I hadn't yet thought of - thanks! One thing I've learned though, based on the area I created by the backdoor, is be thoughtful about where you place your hooks. I tripped coming in the door after gardening and nearly got a hook in my eye. Never again!
ClaireNY and Kristisz, those are from Ikea.
i have a long narrow space with 3 doors and it's very dark; it's also pale pink and i am NOT a pale pink person!
does anyone have ideas for umbrella storage? i have an umbrella stand for my cane, umbrellas and collection of parasols that take up space under my coat rack that could be used for a small bench.
I have gotten such great ideas from this~ not only from the article but from the comments as well.
Thanks so much!
Now to convince my husband that it's a priority that we update our entryway....
Those little wooden drawers are definitely from Ikea, I have them, but I think they've been discontinued. I just looked at the label on mine and they're called "Forhoja". I did a search on the Ikea website and it brought up a few products from that line but not those drawers.
Rouquinne,
Perhaps a basket either under the bench or beside the bench to store your umbrellas. Either that, or add a shelf above the coat rack with a long basket there for your umbrellas.
I don't think there were source links for those images -- or did I just miss them? I was wondering where image 8 is from. I love it and would like to see the rest of the apartment :)
We have no entry, and I have resisted placing hooks on the wall since in our case the hooks just invite cluttered coats, etc. I have found that without a "landing strip" we are forced to put mail, coats and backpacks in closet space or really just sort through it right away and toss the junk. The problem with our lack of entry is that there is no place for shoes. Any ideas for outdoor shoe storage? I wont put shoes in the closet because I can't stand dirty shoes in a closet with clean clothes.
Campell Design, I used the Ikea Hemnes shoe cabinet. The depth is only about 8 inches so it's perfect for my non-foyer because shoe cabinet is thin enough so my door can open all the way.
Anybody know a source for the wall coat rack in photo #8?
@Claire and others re: the drawers.
They are from Ikea... but often they have items that are only in stores and not on the website.
I really don't like coat hangers and all of the clutter in these entryways. It's better to have nothing, or just a nice plant.
Image 9 is especially pretty. I hang my umbrellas, as well as my dogs' leashes, from a coat rack since I don't wear coats. That keeps things off the floor, making it easier to clean.
I'm another with a split entryway!
The doors take up the entire side (no wall on either side) and are glass, so there's no attaching anything to those doors.
The footprint of the floor is just 5 feet by 3 feet, so by the time the door is open to get in, it's reduced to about half that.
We're lucky that we have a coat closet upstairs, but it's still incredibly awkward getting guests in the door, greeting them, having enough room to take their shoes off, and grabbing their coats without feeling like we're lording over them (as we have to stand on the stairs).
We have a shoe mat down which only holds 3 pairs of shoes, which also further reduces the footprint.
What to do?
Does anyone know where I could get that clear umbrella stand in picture 5?
Our apartment door opens up to a hallway of doors. We have an entry closet but no center pole so we keep our coats in our rooms. The entry closet holds our suitcases, more tools, a shopping cart, shop vac, large hockey bag and hockey gear as well as a shoe caddy in which we have everything but shoes. I have a small dresser in the hallway and topped it off with a piece of glass to protect the wooden top. It has two small drawers on top with two larger drawers below. We put mail for one one another on the top of the dresser. The various drawers hold Charlie Cards, MBTA maps, Boston area maps, tourist info, flashlights, plastic bags to cover bike seats, wrap computers put lunch in and to carry work shoes in. The other drawer holds tools, sewing repair box, safety pins, batteries, glues, small hand sanitizers, tissues, pen and paper for quick notes, scotch tape and stapler. We also have a mirror above the dresser, a boot tray and then a chair to remove boots and a large entry rug.
I was disappointed by this article because to me all those photos look like very workable spaces! I'm at a total loss what to do with mine - the heavy fire escape door opens facing the wall of the hallway. There isn't enough room to put a table or bench on that wall or the door won't open all the way. It's a fairly narrow hallway that has two closets to the right before opening into the main space. To the left of the front door it ends with the bathroom opening to the right - I had originally wanted to put a bench at the end of the hall there, but then you can't get into the bathroom. Maybe I'll take pictures and send them in here and hope it can be a "good question". Bah.
Make sure your landlord is okay with the hanging of so many items on one small wall. You may be in big trouble when you move.
I agree with some of the post...why not take your coat/purse to your room or hang in the closet? I too don't like seeing shoes, coats, purses, as accessories.
I have a square shaped studio, door opens right up into the living area. I put a white West Elm parsons desk next to the way. Since it has drawers, can store box/letter openers, pens, etc. A bowl for keys and some decorative items. We can easily pull a chair up to for extra dining seating or workspace. I store some extra stools underneath it. Don't have to deal with coats since I'm in Hawaii. There's a covered porch outside with a bench so can take off any work boots there.
How does this fall under Renter's Solutions? We own and hell this is our daily issue. Come winter, there's no such thing as a cute little floor mat to brighten up the area.
Good ideas in theory but our landlord is certainly not going to let us drill holes in the walls for hooks or shelves-stick on ones would be too light for coats.
@ Cooklyn, Annapdx and Rouquine:
Thank you for the info, I thought they were from Ikea too, but I wasn't sure. Now I know, I just need to go to the store!
I have to use a metal over the door hooks rack as we have no closets at all in our farm house. Hate the cluttered look but no where to hide coats/boots. The bedrooms are small and narrow and have hooks on those doors too. Not ideal but with lack of space you do what you have to do. Loved looking at all the entry ways very much!
Does anybody know where the bench in the last picture (#10) is from? I love it and I don't even know how to begin searching for it!
Where are the sliding poles from in Pic 3?
Does anyone know where can I find the table with the shelves in pic# 9. I am looking for the exact same size.
Many thanks!
More info about #10 can be found here:
http://hindsvikathome.com/?p=3199