One of my org anizing goals for this year was to evaluate and improve our organization in our entryway to help combat the horrible clutter that seems to often accumulate there after even a mildly busyweek. Just to give some idea of what I’m often faced with I took a few pictures of the typical chaos that appears by the weekend:
In order to tackle this mess and get things back under control, I did an inventory two weeks in a row of the things that were cluttering up the space. One thing that I noticed? Sydney’s hat and coat didn’t really have a home. We have hooks on the entry hall tree for our things, but we typically use most of the spaces, and our jackets take up a lot of vertical space. So I began to look for a place to put a hook all her own and decided that it would be sturdiest if I installed it into wood, and thus the idea of using the side of the built-in bookshelves came to mind (you can see them in the pic above).
I searched for a double hook (for space for a coat and hat) and found plenty of options that I like but that I thought were quite expensive given what they are (like this one from Pottery Barn Kids for $24). So I decided to wait. Then, during one of my many trips to Lowe’s I saw out of the corner of my eye a very similar one for $8. I was thrilled!
I finally got around to installing it recently, and I’m so happy I did. Here’s the new hook in its new home:
And a close up, sans stuff:
Although the space is still a work in progress, the dedicated place for Sydney’s things really helps streamline our getting in/out the door routine. No more searching for outerwear or hats for us! I also like that before too long, because we hung the hook at kid level, she’ll (in theory) be able to hang up her own things. What this means in reality is that her hats are now more accessible to her and thus she spends a great deal of time insisting on wearing all her hats at once, like this:
Along with the toddler coat/hat issue, I discovered a few other things that were causing clutter to overtake our entryway, so I’m starting to problem-solve those areas next. Wish me luck–this is no small feat!
Cheers,
G
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