Organizing And Updating The Look Of The Entryway

Summer seems to have finally arrived and that means that winter shoes, boots, coats, hats and gloves finally need sorting, washing and putting away. If only there was some magic organizing technique to save time and effort. However, these summer organization projects won’t happen unless I get moving and start creating some sort of order. I want to do a little more than just put away I need to create a pretty look one that inspires my family to keep it neat and tidy.

My Entryway Organizing Make-Over

Removing all the coats and hats is the easy part but then making sure the pockets were empty, that they were in good repair, still fitted the owner, the next destination is the washing machine. I did manage to get rid of a pair of gloves and a broken umbrella.

There is something about shoes that really bugs me, dirty shoes, or shoes that have seen better days and for some reason my daughter seems to love these types of shoes, if she didn’t surely she would throw them away? Therefore, I needed to sort the shoes first and finding out that she has two pairs just fit for the bin.

Before these disappear into wardrobes or storage until next year, they need cleaning, fortunately for me, who hates cleaning shoes; my other half loves this task. So, guess what he spent time doing?

Now my favourite part, the cleaning, there are walls that need washing and marks that need removing. I also remembered the top of the coat rack, being short I needed the steps for this challenge! A note for my maintenance file, the baseboards need glossing, they are not looking as great as they could be. The tile floor just needs a good scrub.

The Messy Stuff

I am changing, I am noticing the details, the finishing touches and that is something I have never paid much attention too before, but I am starting to love it. The shoe rack is an off white metal and I wanted something a little different to stand out the white just wasn’t doing the job.

I opted to paint the shoe rack with a spray paint designed for metal, I spent a long time going over the different colour options, I like green, but my green choices haven’t always been well received with my family. Therefore, I decided to go with silver.

I took it apart this was a very simple process, and laid them outside on sheets of newspaper and sprayed them leaving the 30 minutes the can said it took to dry before turning them over and spraying the other side. My hubby had to do some of this, as I couldn’t hold the button down very long, it hurt my wrist. However, I was really impressed with the end result, after another 30 minutes drying I put the shoe rack back together and left it overnight to completely set firm.

Improving The Black Catch All

The black catch-all under the shoes looked boring, and I have seen these filled with stones, they look great and add texture to a very boring yet practical item.

For this part of the project I choose white pebbles, they add a touch of the beach feel to this part of the makeover. They came in a large bag and I had to wash the dirt off and dry them before placing them into the bottom of the tray. The idea is to allow shoes to drip-dry and the water has somewhere to go that is easy to clean up and doesn’t just fill up with dog hair.

The result, I am in love with, it looks great, feels great and it makes a change from seeing heavy boots and winter coats, is nice to have a feeling that summer is finally here. This organizing project was a success and one I absolutely love.

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