Entry Makeover

We recently made some changes to the entry. I wanted something that was more functional, with space to put our coats, scarves, purses, etc. when we step in the door and perhaps even take our shoes off. Almost more like a mudroom I guess, except I wanted it to be pretty and classic looking.

Our old entry is shown in this post, and I kept a lot of the basic elements in place. Here is a picture of it below:

And here are some more shots of the updated entryway:

We moved the black antique sideboard to the dining room to use as a bar and I put a bench in its place. Two benches came with our dining table we purchased off of Craigslist and we use chairs in place of them now. The bench has actually worked well because it provides a spot to sit and put on shoes or hold things that need to go out in the car that we don’t want to forget.

Under the bench I have baskets that I found at Homegoods. They store things like winter hats and gloves, extra blankets and traveling gear.

I added hooks on the wall over the bench for hanging purses and bags. We use these quite a bit to hang up little bags for the girls too. Babies always have so much stuff to tote around, right?! Pretty much everything I did in the entry was to maximize storage and function.

The antique freestanding coat rack was a birthday gift from my mother-in-law. I told her I was looking for one for my entry and she found this beauty. It has an extra wide base so that it is heavy and not prone to tip over. I am in love with the brass hardware and it is perfect for holding our winter coats and scarves.

So that’s my entry. Nothing too fancy. For the last several months I’ve been in a mode of purging, simplifying, decluttering, and organizing things for functionality. Simplifying my home for me helps me to be less stressed and stay peaceful. Having less stuff sitting around is certainly liberating. I’d say this makeover definitely displays this vibe as a result of this inner urging.