apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

My door opens directly into my living room (600sq ft apt) -- I've made a mini landing strip by hanging long (4ft) shelf with hooks under a large mirror on the wall when you walk in. This way as soon as I'm in the door I can hang my purse, hat, jacket, and keys on the hooks. Outgoing mail lands on the shelf, as well as my ipod and cell for charging. The mirror reflects back into the living room, and gives me a place to do a final check before I go out the door. It works really well, and keeps all the clutter neat and contained.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1691697&l=e790d38678&id=500186656

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1682953&l=e836fa7333&id=500186656

omg the shelf w/hooks is a great idea for my new apartment
thank you thank you thank you!

Erica, I love the shelf! Where is it from?

The shelf -- believe it or not, is from Joann's Fabrics -- it was 6 bucks! A can of white spray paint and a couple of screws and voila! I looked for a big shelf/hook combo like this for months before I found what I wanted at Joann's -- everyone else wanted 80 bucks for a tiny 18" shelf.

!!! I'm going there this weekend!

our "entryway" is created by a two-cubes-wide ikea expedit bookshelf laid horizontally to create a low room divider/half-wall (bonus: it provides a lot of storage). the top of the shelf is lined with large houseplants, which further separates the faux entryway from the living room. we've got a little tray among the plant jungle to hold keys, cell phones, and other on-the-go items, and shoes, jackets, and bags go directly into a coat closet that's further into the living room.

mail doesn't stay in the entryway; our household mail rules are ruthless. it gets sorted, opened, and dealt with immediately ... one of the few "systems" we have that really works!

Our "hallway" was created by placing a bookshelf to divide the room--an Ivar, so it looked good from both sides. On the hallway side we were able to fit a boot mat, and on the bookcase we could place our keys, phones, and mail.

i started entering through my garage making it into a mudroom. before i did that though i realized the best thing was not to have too many hooks just two or three...just take the shoes off and go straight in avoid hanging your coat right there...otherwise we would have 50 coats by the front door and it looked sloppy. same with the mail we started bringing it straight to the office and on the way separated the junk.

My entryway/living room is the same and ridiculously small. About 8 feet deep and about 4 feet wide. Stairway to the upstairs kitchen immediately on the left. Another 8 feet deep, 4 feet wide L shaped offshoot of the room to the left, just beyond the staircase. With the furniture I own, all I could do is put an entertainment center on the right and a loveseat on the left, with a bookcase along the back wall to the left and my treadmill right behind the loveseat (there isn't anywhere else for it; believe me). So you're doing a straight shot between a loveseat and an entertainment center toward the bedroom or a left turn to go upstairs to the kitchen. NOT easy for a landing strip.

I ended up putting a coat rack behind the front door to the right. I have only one closet (not a walk-in; a small louvered one) so that was key. I'm getting a new, lower entertainment center this weekend, so it will no longer be convenient to drop my keys there. I'm looking into getting a shelf for keys and whatever other bits and pieces might show up. It will probably end up on the right, as well, since putting it on the left puts it where you'll run into it going up the stairs. But for the most part, I walk mail to the bedroom and drop my bag in there, too. Less clutter in the living room.

I recently acquired an antique gossip bench to go by our front door. it encourages everyone to sit down and take their shoes off right away, has a shelf to put the mail, and often has a vase of fres flowers to welcome us home. next to it is currently an umbrella pot. unless they need to dry off, clothes and shoes are taken into bedrooms.

Darn it, I'd like to see Erica's pics but facebook is blocked at work ;)

I'm afraid to partition off the door because it would break up the space in a really weird way, so I just try to keep the area neat (ie. shoes lined up, coats put away). Most of the time my husband's coat and/or bag end up on the living room chairs or at the edge of the dining room. (Which is seldom used; I could just sort of chuck stuff back there. I mean, organize a nice area back there.) Fortunately we don't have much cold weather, so it's not too much of a problem.

You rearrange so that there is the feel of an entry area. For me, this meant moving the sofa to a different wall and turning the wall where the door opens onto into a long landing strip with a coat hook behind the door, then a shoe shelf, then an antique sideboard where the mail and keys go flanked on either side by 2 Cherner Chairs I inherited. To keep things from being too sterile, I've added artwork on that wall, always have a vase of fresh flowers and have a lamp on the sideboard, and have baskets under the chairs for gloves and hats, etc. The chairs get used for putting on boots and/or when I need extra seating.

It took me 10 years to figure out this arrangement, but I'm sure glad I did!

My front door opens into my living room which I haven't addressed yet (my landing strip is along a side wall near the door opposite the rest of my living room). My designer friend suggested making a foyer using a tansu to separate the area off (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tfGC7tOlrdk/SOQtZ1ClLAI/AAAAAAAAEUk/e7ORowf2rCY/s400/tansu.jpg) I like the idea because it creates a wall, but not one that is so solid that it takes over.

My neighbors have the same setup I have and they put a 5 foot tall bookcase there like a wall...the openings are toward the foyer area so you can dump your stuff there. Another nice piece that you can put in like a wall but have it be more open is an open-backed bookcase like these:

http://www.westelm.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?storeId=17001&langId=-1&catalogId=17002&viewSetCode=E&partNumber=WE-PRODf552&retainNav=true&parent_category_rn=&cmsrc=SCH&parentId=bookcase

http://www.cb2.com/family.aspx?c=118&f=3870&q=bookcase&fromLocation=Search&DIMID=400001&SearchPage=1

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60071358

I took an old set of drawers, took out the drawers and suspended a fabric panel in their place with a spring curtain rod so I can throw all my purses and other bags in it the minute I get home, so sort later. it all gets neatly hidden behind the fabric panel, and certainly contains the mess. the mail inbox goes on top of the drawers along with bowls for keys. you certainly have the room in that picture for something similar!

there's no room for a landing strip at the door in my apartment and since there's no place to dump things by the door, it doesn't happen........the landing space is in a hall after you've walked thru the living room.

Our sofa sits in the middle of the room and acts as a buffer - it creates the effect of a hallway. Along its backside we have an old white bench that has a shelf where we put our shoes which inevitably spill out onto the floor as well (it does double duty detracting the cat from scratching the back of our precious sofa). Oh and we have a picture rail which we can change up every so often (though that never happens). I am still really wanting a rug of some sort, but we're terrible with making decisions on that front...

I could choose to let this bother me in my home, but I don't. I am just happy to have a living room and a front door that opens in to it.

I can never find a way that doesn't make it look at least a little cluttered but I have had learned to deal. To create a "foyer" look, we have done the following:

-Three hooks attached to the wall directly behind how the door opens (one for each of us and an extra for a guest) - this happens to be to the left.
-A tray table directly inside the door along the wall to the right. It houses a sketched photo of us along with a pretty vase to drop change. Keys, wallets, purses, etc also land here.
-Our shoes hide underneath the tray table and we've left room by my desk (is what you see immediately opening the door) to put guest shoes since we do have a shoes-off policy.
-A rug laying on the diagonal (it also hides some cords) that creates a sort of entryway corner.
-The umbrella is behind the door near the hooks.

Since the door is in the living room, we have yet to see a need for a place to put on shoes since we usually just sit on the couch to do that (or sometimes we'll sit on our coffee table for that since it's more like a bench and it's withstood being used as a stepstool to change a light bulb).

Photos, please, people! We are dumped right into the LR, too, but our entry door bisects a rectangular room (as opposed to having a wall at a right angel when we walk in). Ugh.

mlle Erica, I have the exact same stand for one of my crystal balls. kindred spirits!

We also have no entryway - the door is in the corner of our approximately 12x12 living room. The door opens against a wall that separates the living room from dining room - the wall comes out about 3 or 4 feet, so we just put the landing strip on the opposite side of the wall in the dining room.

The door is to the left of the recliner in this picture:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21267684@N02/2927164537/in/set-72157607414518916/

I hung hooks for coats and bags with an ikea shoe rack underneath, with a wooden cabinet beside it to hold hats and gloves inside and a mail organizer on top.

This way, we didn't have to give up living room space, or be looking at coats and shoes in the living room - we do have to look at the coats and shoes in the dining room...but I can deal with that.

I've always had a secret dream of hanging panels like these from Smith Noble: http://www.smithandnoble.com/sn/product_category.jsp?nav_cat=-17997&sch_cat=Panel%20Track

If you hung from the ceiling, one panel two panels made into a "corner" could potentially create a nice translucent wall separate foyer space.

I have no idea if that would work, but would love try it!