Living Small // Solutions When You Have No Entryway

Have you ever noticed that the websites boasting "solutions for small entryways" always somehow have ideas that only work in homes that well... have entryways? Oh my goodness, y'all. Every time I read one of those posts-- with their oh-so-helpful tips for entryway or storage storage-- I think to myself "Yea but what if you have NO entryway? Like, not even a nook or a hallway?"

Am I alone in this? Our front door opens straight into the living room. There's zero space for a small bench or entryway table. You swing open the front door, and it's "Welcome to our living room." What little space our entry does possess is dominated by the living room's radiator. So in other words: we're warm, but we're tracking footprints all over the house.

When we bought the house, having no designated entryway didn't seem like that big of a deal. But one month into a Maryland winter, I realized how annoying having no designated entryway could really be. Translation: you step off the salt-encrusted sidewalk and onto your hardwoods. Ugh.

Today I thought I'd share a few simple tips for how we carved an entryway out of nothing. I'll be honest, sometimes we still feel frustrated in the midst of a Maryland winter, but for the most part, we've made our lack of an entryway work for us. For the most part.

1. Get thee an entryway rug.
After our first winter began, I quickly realized we needed an entryway rug. I just couldn't stand the thoughts of dripping water all over the original hardwood floors-- one of my favorite features of our home. I picked up a small Threshold rug at our local Target. Now, we have a place to wipe our muddy boots, and Solo meanwhile has a place to lie and stare at passerby.

2. Hang the coats.
Another big issue with having no entryway? Coats all over the living room.  To solve this problem, we simply installed a few decorative coat hooks. Now, we have a place to hang the rain jackets and Solo's leash. Whenever they're not being used, I try to round up the coats and take them to our upstairs coat closet. But sometimes necessity outweighs decor preferences.

3. Hide the shoes.
We don't really have a "no shoes rule" in our house, but my husband has always taken his shoes off as soon as he walks in the front door. His habit transferred to me. And before I knew it, a pile of flats and tennis shoes had become our new welcome committee. To corral the mess, I put a small basket beside the door. Now, as soon as shoes come off, they go in the basket. It's not a perfect solution, but it hides what would otherwise be an eyesore.

4. Stash the keys.
The final problem I had with our lack of entryway... nowhere to toss my keys! I don't know about you, but I like to just toss my keys onto a surface when I come home. You can't very well toss keys into the middle of the room. For awhile, our TV stand served as the gathering place for the odds-and-ends that find themselves by the front door: gym cards, car keys, doggy bags, random golf tees.  A few days ago, I saw this marble tray in HomeGoods' clearance section. That'll work, I thought. Now if I can just get the husband to put his keys in the tray rather than beside the tray.

5. Make it pretty.
This suggestion may seem a little flippant but, in my opinion, having a pretty entrance makes coming home a happier occurrence... and maybe make you forget the annoyance of the non-entryway. Our front door is a bright poppy red-- a color choice that cheers up even the dreariest rainy day. I also tend to go overboard decorating our little stoop with seasonal flowers-- right now we've got more mums than any home really needs. Finally, the seasonal wreath and our custom stained glass transom (from Terraza Stained Glass in Baltimore) give our front entrance a unique flair.

What tips do you have for the non-entryway?

How do you make your space work for you?

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