Entryway Storage Solutions

Do you struggle to keep the clutter organized?  I sure do.  And with three kids things can sometimes get pretty cluttered.....shoes, coats, backpacks, toys, books, you name it.  My dream is to have an official mudroom for everyone to just drop their stuff off on their way into the house but unless we get a new house that just ain't happening.

Soooooo, I decided to work with what I have, namely, a bench (whose seat lifts up for storage) that we use to drop our stuff on when we walk in the door.  Remember my bench revamp?  You can see that here.  Our house's floor plan drives me crazy sometimes.  Have you ever said, "What WERE those builders thinking?"  I ask that all the time.  I'm left with a bench kind of out there in the middle of the room.  Luckily I can ground it somewhat with the couch behind it but still it's awkward.

To the right is the door to the patio and to the left is the door to the garage, our main entryway.  So it's a very busy area of the house.  Lemons into lemonade, people.

I picked up two baskets at 40% off at Jo-Ann's that I thought would fit perfectly underneath the bench.  For the third basket I bought one made of corn husks for a bit of contrast.  (Note, corn husk baskets are not really strong, just sayin'.)  For the little signs on each basket I used: 1) a small unfinished picture frame that came as part of my son's in-school craft that he never finished (which I painted with acrylic paint and turned into a mini-chalkboard) and 2) two adorable unfinished mini-chalkboards that I found for like a buck ninety-nine at World Market.  I love that place.  Oh, and I painted them, too.

I don't know about your house, but at my house at any given time we have a bunch of stuff that has to "go back" (be returned) to various stores.  I hated looking at the stuff, piling up mainly in my tiny quaint laundry room.  Sooooooo, I labeled the signs on the baskets in code.  No. 1 means "Target returns."  No. 2 means "Wal-Mart returns." and No. 3 means "Other returns."  Not too crazy, right?  At least for now that's what the baskets will be used for.  But believe me, they can just as easily be filled with all those shoes, coats, backpacks, toys, books, you name it.  (See the baskets on each side of the bench?  They're currently FILLED with shoes.  Crocs, sneakers, garden shoes, flip flops, sandals, etc.  How can five people have so many pairs of shoes?  I guess that's fodder for another day...)

So I really do like how they turned out, and how they give me a false sense of being really organized.  I mean, a girl can dream, can't she?

How do you organize your family's clutter?

xoxo