Do you use a side/back door as your main entrance?

[Janie Grace]

I don't know what my mental block is about this, and I thought maybe you all could help me. We have *always* used the front door as the door by which the family enters the house. As a result, we have an overflowing "shoe basket", hooks with multiple coats jammed onto them, and other random junk around the front door at times. This bugs me, but I am so used to it, I don't think a lot about it.

 

We are moving soon to a new house. At first, I was thinking we'd get a long "shoe bench" from Ikea -- it has two long shelves for shoes beneath the seat. And I planned to hang some kind of pegs for coats above it. Add a little table with a decorative bowl on top for keys, wallet, cell phone and there you go -- a somewhat organized (albeit cluttered) entry way.

 

And then it dawned on me... the new house has a mudroom. It's attached to the kitchen and has a brick floor. It even has a little counter space where there could be a bowl for sundry items. I could put in coat hooks and some kind of small rack for shoes (not enough room for the Ikea bench, but something), and this could be our "family entrance." The thing is, to get to the mudroom door, we'd cross over the pathway that leads to the front door and around the side of the house to get inside.

 

Is this what lots of people do? I don't know why this strikes me as so hard to get used to! Is it an adjustment worth making to have a neat entryway?

[Mama Geek]

We use the back entrance.

[Chris in VA]

We use the garage entrance because our cars are parked there, and it's on the side of the house. Only company uses the front door.

When we lived in Tx, we did use the front door. In one house there, we didn't pull all the way into the drive because it was the length of the house and too hard to back out of, so the front door was most convenient. In our apartment, we only had the front door! LOL

 

I think you'll find the mudroom a perfect family entrance.

[FaithManor]

We only have a back entrance and side entrance. The side entrance isn't used much, more of a fire exit than anything, because it's inconveniently located. Our front door isn't used because, we haven't got the renovations of that part of the house done yet.

 

I don't care where the overflowing basket of shoes, hats, and mitten is...it's annoying! But, when we get done, the front entrance will be tile with throw rugs and a HUGE closet so every one will be retrained to take care of shoes, boots, etc. properly. Right now, the kitchen door is in use...one coat tree and a large rubbermaid tub...ugh.

 

Faith

[~Jo]

We use the garage entrance because our cars are parked there, and it's on the side of the house. Only company uses the front door.

 

:iagree:We do too....only we have trucks :lol:

[FO4UR]

We use the back door. It is tiled and goes straight to the utility room downstairs or upstairs to the kitchen. No yucky shoes allowed upstairs.

 

I would spend the last good years of my life cleaning the carpet if we used the front door.:nopity:

[Whereneverever]

We come in the back from the garage, as well.

[MamaT]

We use the side door which opens into our sunroom where the floor is tile. We have two coat pegs, a shoe rack, and a wicker chest full of scarves and gloves by that door. Only company uses our front door.

[momofkhm]

We park the cars in the garage and so that's the family entrance, off the garage. There is a mudroom/laundry room and we put coat hooks in there. But we also put a multiple level shoe rack in the garage. Most of the family's shoes go out there.

[Lolly]

We use every door BUT the front door. It would be inconvenient to use it.

[Mallory]

We use every door BUT the front door. It would be inconvenient to use it.

 

Us too, our front doo is very inconvient. I think because of all the adding on to our house and maybe even changing of roads/drives (the original part of our house is 80-100 years old) you have to walk clear around the house to get to the "front door". There are two on the driveway side of the house, both on additions that weren't here 80 years ago :001_smile:

[myfunnybunch]

We use the garage entrance because our cars are parked there, and it's on the side of the house. Only company uses the front door.

 

Us too.

 

The mudroom sounds perfect!

 

Cat

[fairfarmhand]

we NEVER use our front door. Only company uses the front door. Entering our house you can turn left to go round to the front or right to go round to the back. We always come in through the garage.

 

However, in the house in which my dh grew up, the way the driveway was, one would have to walk through the back yard to get to the back door. Therefore they always came in the front.

 

If I were you, I'd definitely make the mental shift.

[Sahamamama]

Back door only people here. The front steps are really too steep to climb.

[Remudamom]

Only strangers use our front door. Everyone else uses the schoolroom door, also on the front of the house but under the deck near the back driveway. So the schoolroom has carpet that's just one step above indoor/outdoor, and right next to the laundry room and mud bath.

[Murphy101]

Mudroom!!!

 

We use the garage entrance. My van doesn't fit in the garage, so it sorta serves as a mudroom. Not even company uses the front door very often. Only people who don't know us very well use the front door.

[Paintedlady]

We have 3 entrances--front, back, and side. Company uses the front door, family uses the side door (there's a side porch that leads into the kitchen) and no one uses the back door very much b/c it leads to the basement.

[gingersmom]

We only use our front door. If I am going to the backyard I will use the side door.

 

I think it also depends on the layout of your house. My house has an entranceway that is separate from the other rooms.

 

My neighbors front door opens right into the living room, no entranceway. So they always use their side/back doors.

[Tylianna]

We use our garage door. There are too many locks on the front door for it to be easily used for us. That is the company door! The storm door has a key lock on it, the DOOR has a deadbolt and a bar lock on it.

 

We keep shoes out in the garage, and the kids hang their snowy stuff out there too. Coats are hung up in the living room (by the front door). I want to eventually buy a bench for shoes and stuff to put in my garage by the house door.

 

But, NO we do not, personally, use our front door lol

[Parrothead]

For us it depends on the house. In some houses we used the back door because the back door was most convenient to the vehicles. Some have had side doors or kitchen doors. The house we are in now has a kitchen door along with a front and back door. We use the kitchen door because it is just steps away from the front door. But at the same time if we are going for a walk or run we will go out the front door because it is closer to the sidewalk. Some houses we used the front door. In one the back yard was fenced so no one really used the back door unless one was already in the back yard.

[Sherry in OH]

In our house the garage door and the front door open into the same foyer area. I would love to have a true mudroom.

[Soror]

Side door here, we have a small tiled area, although the whole house is tile or hardwood. Anyway, the garage and deck are there so it is convenient to where we pull up. I cannot remember the last time the front door was used, it just seems obvious looking at the house.

[Mejane]

We enter through the garage. It's not a full mudroom, more of a pass-through to the kitchen. Coats and shoes stay in the garage. I bet you'll be glad if you make the change. The "real" entryway stays so clean. :001_smile:

[Tap]

We use the garage door. It has a pass code entry and it is easier than digging out my keys. I keep my car key separate from my house keys so I have to really dig to find the house key in the bottom of my purse.

 

Dh parks in the garage (I don't like to manage car doors and kids in a smallish garage so I park outside) so he too, uses the garage entrance to the house.

 

I am not adverse to using the front door, we just don't usually.

 

I have nice heavy paper boxes up on the shelf in the shoe closet. In these boxes are the misc seasonal shoes. We only keep out, on the shelves, what we are currently wearing. I have another box with umbrellas etc and another has hat/gloves/scarves (heavy duty snow gear is not in here, just light/mid weight things). This works pretty good for us to keep the bulk down and it helps me to whittle down the outgrown/destroyed shoes faster. It is quick and easy to open up a box and toss the temporarily unused items in there (like sandals, or water shoes), but contains them and keeps them all together for grab and go if we head to the indoor water park in January.

 

We have a small pile of shoes in the garage, but for the most part, even though we enter through that door, our coats/shoes still go into the front entry closet. It is hard wood all the way, so carpet isn't an issue for us.

Edited January 12, 2011 by Tap, tap, tap

[Dmmetler]

We use our back door, mostly because it's closer to the top of the driveway. The one disadvantage is the closet is closer to the front door.

[Janie Grace]

You all convinced me! Mudroom it is. Picking out shoe racks right now! :)

[Laura Corin]

We use the mudroom to enter the house. The front looks good.

 

Laura

[mcconnellboys]

We've always gone in and out the door that attaches to the garage or carport and that's generally a back door.

 

The arrangement you describe sounds akward for using the mud room. I thought mud rooms were generally attached to the garage or drive area of a home...?

 

It sounds like you park out in front of your house, perhaps? In that case I guess I would use the front door....

[Janie Grace]

We've always gone in and out the door that attaches to the garage or carport and that's generally a back door.

 

The arrangement you describe sounds akward for using the mud room. I thought mud rooms were generally attached to the garage or drive area of a home...?

 

It sounds like you park out in front of your house, perhaps? In that case I guess I would use the front door....

 

You park in front of the house. What used to be the garage is now finished into two bedrooms (one with a door to the outside) -- but obviously we can't go in through a bedroom. So we can either go straight up the walk to the front door, or halfway up the walk, veer left around the side of the house, and enter the mudroom, which leads to the kitchen. I don't think that's unusual in older homes, actually... the house I grew up in had a mudroom by the kitchen. They both (this mudroom and the MR of my childhood) were down a few steps from the kitchen.

[Veritaserum]

We enter through the garage, which is adjacent to the laundry room and the kitchen. I have shoe shelves and coat hooks in the laundry room. We never enter the house through the front door if we drive somewhere. We only use the front door if we are walking. :) ETA: Guests, deliveries, etc. use the front door.

Edited January 12, 2011 by Veritaserum

[JoyfulMama]

Front door? That's for FedEx and UPS only. They pull the truck up to the front steps (at the road) and they are at the front door. Anyone who pulls into the drive uses the side entrance, as it is the closest entrance to the drive.

 

Growing up I was 8 when we moved into the house I lived in the longest. I remember my mom repeating over and over that we should use the side door, as the kid coat closet was at that door. However, in order to get to that door we had to walk through the often muddy yard. As a kid, I thought it silly that we had to walk through mud to get inside the house, especially when the door would never be unlocked, and we didn't have keys (no point if Mom was home). That door was also next to the laundry room, and the door to the coat closet was often the holding area for the line of dirty loads of wash. We eventually got a garage door code thing, and started to use the garage door. This meant we had to carry our coats to the other side of the house to hang them up. Yes, this was a fun battle for my mom. However, now as a mom, I understand her fight. The coat closet at the front door was always kept neat, always had room to hang coats of guests. The shoes? Well, she wanted us to keep them on, and only take them off if they were muddy or wet, and then they were to be kept in the garage. Shoes belonged in our bedroom closets, however often were found all over the whole entire house. I don't think the battles a mom faces have changed much over the years. :lol:

[ocelotmom]

We have a driveway that goes up to a parking area in back of our house, and our front yard is inaccessible from the street, so our "back door" is essentially the front door, and the front door the back door, or something like that :)

 

Entering through the mudroom makes sense to me - you just have to design the front yard in such a way that people are guided to that door instead of the front door. Unless you don't mind formal/infrequent visitors using the front door, of course.

[justamouse]

When we only had the front door, we used the front door. Now we have a pantry/mudroom and a kitchen door. Kids go in through the mudroom, I go in through the kitchen (because that's where a coat closet is and it's where I hang MY coat):001_smile:. The kids have a coat tree and hooks out there. Then we have the big hall closet for guest coats and such.

[MissKNG]

We have two entrances - one directly into the living room and one through a side (utility) room. We go through the side room.