DESIGN

Tis the season for tossing all your stuff in a pile by the door the minute you walk in! Temperatures are soaring and kids are back in school. A pile of clutter by the door is to be expected in these conditions.

These two often-overlooked spaces play a crucial role in maintaining an organized home, yet they tend to accumulate the most chaos. Below we’ve gathered tips and ideas to get you started with organizing these crucial spaces in our homes, plus some past ORC projects for inspiration.

Open vs. Closed Storage

A good place to start is figuring out how much open storage versus closed storage you need. Open storage in an entry or mudroom will mostly be hooks and cubbies for things like bags, shoes, and jackets-- things you grab in a hurry and won’t look unsightly left out. Closed storage is for items like sunscreen, baseball caps, mittens-- items you need by the door but don’t want to leave lying around.

Your pile-by-the-door is probably mostly bags, shoes, and jackets. When you’re brainstorming for closed storage, think about items that get left in places like the kitchen counter or breakfast table.

When you’re planning your storage layout, don’t forget about essentials like your wallet and keys. Do a little soul-searching to figure out if you’re more of a keys-on-a-hook or a keys-in-a-bowl kind of person.

Utilize vertical space

Storage in a small space is like a Tetris game. A bench with storage, hooks around eye level, and more storage on a high shelf makes the best use of vertical space.

Don’t forget that this is the space you walk through when you’re trying to carry all your groceries in one trip, etc.. Be sure to leave enough open space that it’s still easily navigable and nothing is doomed to be knocked or tripped over.

If your pile-by-the-door spot is small, one solution to consider is a single, multi-functional piece of furniture like a hall tree. Most of the hall trees I’ve seen online look easily customizable (examples below).

Incognito storage

If you want your storage to be more disguised and you have the space for it, an antique or vintage piece of furniture with drawers can look stunning as a focal point by the door. Try your local Facebook Marketplace if you’re interested in this route.

Another great incognito closed-storage item is a woven basket with a lid, which can go under or next to something like a console table.

Both of these are great options if your main entry/exit from your home is your front door, and you’re desperate for storage without making your entryway look too utilitarian.

Functional spaces like mudrooms can be a bit hard to make feel decorated. An outdoor rug can go a long way to making a space feel more personal and inviting, and the sturdier material will hold up better to high traffic.

Closet turned storage nook

Another excellent option for stylish storage is converting a coat closet or a shallow utility closet into a nook. This is a project that’s been gaining traction over the last few years. Having multiple levels of easily accessible storage elements makes better use of the space for most people, and it creates an opportunity for a very fun splash of personality.

This closet-turned-nook is by Maggie Overby. She created the storage bench element with an IKEA hack, which you can read more about here.

Your mudroom or storage overhaul can be anything from creating a wall of built-ins to simply adding a hook for your keys. Ultimately, the very best mudroom or entry storage is the kind that makes sense for you and your life. Happy organizing!