happypamama Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 Actually, maybe it should be your ideal "exitway." If you were customizing your entryway, what would you put in yours? So far, I know I would want: -a bin for each child's shoes/boots (plus DH's and mine) -another bin for each child's library card, sunglasses, etc. -somewhere to hang wet mittens/hats -somewhere to hang each child's coat/jacket/hat/co-op backpack -a place to hang/store a baby carrier or two -a place to hang/store library bags and grocery bags -a shelf or something for storing packages to be mailed, mail for DH to see, books to return to the library, etc. -a bajillion outlets for charging phones and other electronics -a chair or bench for sitting on while taking off boots (for DH, who wears boots all the time and thus tracks dirt into my house every single day while he crosses to a chair to remove them). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amy g. Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 I'm just not practical. My ideal is a huge room with an antique round table and a giant arrangement of fresh flowers in the center of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kroe1 Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 I have mine with this last house we bought. I wanted something that had a view beyond the back of the house onto a lanai. Thank goodness we moved to Florida where more houses like these are available. I do have the ornate entry furniture piece which houses the dog leash. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 In the midwest we call 'em mudrooms. :D Mine has a floor so dark it eats dirt, a porcelain tile with a name like black slate. Yes, three rugs, one at the door, one in the middle, and one as you cross the door from the mudroom into the main part of the house. They catch a LOT of the dirt that would track into the house otherwise. Yes, a bench wrapped around with tilted racks underneath for shoes. We elected not to do cubbies, but we have hooks around and a ledge above the hooks. Most of the hooks are adult height, and a few are kid height. The ledge above the kid hooks creates a convenient in/out shelf for returns and borrowed items, groceries coming in for the mudroom frig or deep freeze, etc. Yes, there's an extra frig and deep freeze in the mudroom. We have a 1/2 bath off the mudroom for cleaning up and a water fountain. :D Hmmm, what else? Computer area so it's high traffic and observed. Space for our library book baskets. A corner cabinet with shelves inside for each person's mittens and hats and things. If you vary the heights on the cabinets you get some spaces to decorate with things you enjoy or to change out the seasons. Mainly though the dark floor, gotta be a dark floor. This baby just EATS dirt and never looks dirty. Oh we sweep it, but it always looks reasonable. Love, love, love it. It's a porcelain tile imitating black slate, and it's set on angle with an alternating pattern of large and smaller. It was sort of a bold choice with my light yellow walls, but I think it works. The area rug in the middle is nylon, just one of those kind you can find at Lowes for $100. It's 4'X6' (or 5'X8'? I'm looking at it and guessing, wasn't in the mood to lie down and check), and actually I only just now took out ds's play table that I kept in here for him to eat snacks at and be with me when I was on the computer. He's finally outgrown it, sniff, sniff. Some people put their laundry in their mudroom, but I don't like that. People come through my mudroom, and I didn't want people being embarrassed by seeing my laundry, mercy. So you're building or dreaming? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 I'm just not practical. My ideal is a huge room with an antique round table and a giant arrangement of fresh flowers in the center of it. :iagree: I have an old house. They thought of these things back then. I have a kitchen entrance, and a pantry entrance. The pantry has bins for shoes, a breezeway where the boots go when we've been out at the farm, lots of hooks, and a radiator for wet winter clothes. In the front, I want a huge round table with a gorgeous flower arrangement. The one I want is at my vets, and is enormous with brown roses and peacock feathers-browns and teals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasider Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 Actually, maybe it should be your ideal "exitway." If you were customizing your entryway, what would you put in yours? So far, I know I would want: -a bin for each child's shoes/boots (plus DH's and mine) -another bin for each child's library card, sunglasses, etc. -somewhere to hang wet mittens/hats -somewhere to hang each child's coat/jacket/hat/co-op backpack -a place to hang/store a baby carrier or two -a place to hang/store library bags and grocery bags -a shelf or something for storing packages to be mailed, mail for DH to see, books to return to the library, etc. -a bajillion outlets for charging phones and other electronics -a chair or bench for sitting on while taking off boots (for DH, who wears boots all the time and thus tracks dirt into my house every single day while he crosses to a chair to remove them). Oh, wow, you are practical! But you have perfectly described what I'd call a mudroom and what I think the upscale builders are now often calling a Drop Zone (usually right off the garage). :iagree: I have an old house. They thought of these things back then. I have a kitchen entrance, and a pantry entrance. The pantry has bins for shoes, a breezeway where the boots go when we've been out at the farm, lots of hooks, and a radiator for wet winter clothes. In the front, I want a huge round table with a gorgeous flower arrangement. The one I want is at my vets, and is enormous with brown roses and peacock feathers-browns and teals. That's more what I'd have in mind for a "company" entrance - bright, airy, flowers but not formal, more like Gerber daisies in a blue mason jar and a big pearly conch shell. One with a butler who has a tray with a goblet of red wine ready the moment I walk though the door. And maybe some sort of gizmo, like a bark collar, that silences the kids as they enter so I can drift off to my library (with floor to ceiling books) and sip and read in peace..... :) Liz :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted August 31, 2012 Author Share Posted August 31, 2012 Oh, wow, you are practical! But you have perfectly described what I'd call a mudroom and what I think the upscale builders are now often calling a Drop Zone (usually right off the garage). LOL, a garage would be nice too, and so would a mudroom! Right now, we have a lousy entryway system. I don't know that we really can do much to make it better (like, there's no room for a bench or chair), but I'm just kind of thinking about what options I might possibly have to make it more useful. So I'm curious as to what other people would like to have, or do have, in their own entry/exit spaces. A table with fresh flowers would be lovely, but a) it would take up precious needed space right there, and b) the cats eat fresh plants. :) OhElizabeth, your mudroom sounds lovely! We get a ton of dirt tracked in, for various reasons, so while I can't change the floor right now, maybe I should get a few more rugs. I have one, but maybe I should try another one on the outside of the door. Maybe one on the porch too, where you first step from the yard onto the porch before crossing the porch to the door into the kitchen (which is the one we use most). Hmm, I'll have to look into better rugs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 Well take a picture of the space and post it, and we'll toss out ideas! Yes, rugs help a lot. I just replaced my throw rugs (28X36?) because they were totally worn out. If you go small, just wide enough to fill the door and get walked on (not jumped over), then yes they do a great job of catching dirt. I also don't keep ALL shoes at the door. Only shoes being used are at the door. If it's Sunday shoes, that type of thing that only gets used on occasion, they go in the person's closet. You might like a closet shoe organizer, which would let you hold a lot of shoes in a small space and go vertical. Have you seen the hanging shoe bags you can hang on the back of a door? You could do that to store mittens and things. Go vertical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted August 31, 2012 Author Share Posted August 31, 2012 Well take a picture of the space and post it, and we'll toss out ideas! Yes, rugs help a lot. I just replaced my throw rugs (28X36?) because they were totally worn out. If you go small, just wide enough to fill the door and get walked on (not jumped over), then yes they do a great job of catching dirt. I also don't keep ALL shoes at the door. Only shoes being used are at the door. If it's Sunday shoes, that type of thing that only gets used on occasion, they go in the person's closet. You might like a closet shoe organizer, which would let you hold a lot of shoes in a small space and go vertical. Have you seen the hanging shoe bags you can hang on the back of a door? You could do that to store mittens and things. Go vertical. I do have one of those hanging shoe bags, and I love it. It holds all of the mittens, winter hats, and scarves, and I put clothespins on it to hold anything damp. I think a bigger rug would help. The one we have is easy to step over. Good point there. The kids do keep seldom-used shoes in their rooms. I think the biggest problem is that the best entrance/exit to use is in the kitchen (at the rear of the house), but surrounding it, there just is not the space needed to hold everything, so half of the stuff we need for leaving the house lives in the living room at the front of the house, with the playroom (and its big rug, which is a no shoe/boot zone) in between. So there's a lot of trekking back and forth, lots of stuff getting piled, etc. The kids are good about putting their shoes, coats, etc. away, but I'd rather make it more convenient for everyone. And the kitchen entrance has nowhere for DH to sit to remove his boots without crossing the room. Hmm, I should post a picture or at least a floor plan -- I'll have to work on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadianmumof5 Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 link won't work - boo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cin Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 One with a butler who has a tray with a goblet of red wine ready the moment I walk though the door. And maybe some sort of gizmo, like a bark collar, that silences the kids as they enter so I can drift off to my library (with floor to ceiling books) and sip and read in peace..... :) Liz Like :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 I'm just not practical. My ideal is a huge room with an antique round table and a giant arrangement of fresh flowers in the center of it. Well, that *was* our foyer, along with a fireplace and an antique dresser in the alcove behind the steps, to keep mittens and things in. My table had to go when the piano went to live in there, on the only interior wall we have with no door or fireplace on it (against the stairs). NB: pianos are not great for shoe storage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 A tiny alcove that opens into a larger "drop your stuff" space... so all of the cold doesn't come rushing into the main house every time the door opens!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 Do you have a garage at the kitchen entrance? You could put a storage container and seat in the garage, so they actually toss their coats and shoes there before coming in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singingmom Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 I'm just not practical. My ideal is a huge room with an antique round table and a giant arrangement of fresh flowers in the center of it. You are my kind of girl!! I was thinking of something just like this with a soaring ceiling, and a gorgeous chandelier :) . Our new house will not be nearly that grand....but we do have a high ceiling, at least ;). Oh, and we are going to have a mudroom next to our utility room, in the home we're building, with access from the garage. That will serve the function that you were talking about. It even has a cute built in bench where the top opens up for storage of shoes, etc. I like that it connects to the garage, which will be the way we will enter and exit, for the most part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidsHappen Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 A huge bench that will hold tons of shoes and has hooks at the top for hanging jackets and then a coat closet to hang extra coats with one of those plasic do-hicky holder on the inside of the closet door to hold gloves, scarves and hats. Otherwise nothing at all. Maybe a clock in the near vacinity so I check the time and see how much time the kids have left until they have to leave for the bus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 Actually, maybe it should be your ideal "exitway." If you were customizing your entryway, what would you put in yours? So far, I know I would want: -a bin for each child's shoes/boots (plus DH's and mine) -another bin for each child's library card, sunglasses, etc. -somewhere to hang wet mittens/hats -somewhere to hang each child's coat/jacket/hat/co-op backpack -a place to hang/store a baby carrier or two -a place to hang/store library bags and grocery bags -a shelf or something for storing packages to be mailed, mail for DH to see, books to return to the library, etc. -a bajillion outlets for charging phones and other electronics -a chair or bench for sitting on while taking off boots (for DH, who wears boots all the time and thus tracks dirt into my house every single day while he crosses to a chair to remove them). Well, I wouldn't want all those things at the front door. I like my *front* door to be open and welcoming and not cluttered with the flotsam and jetsam of people. :D But we have an attached garage, and we park our car in the garage, so a room like that close to the garage would be good. Or a mud room off a back or side door. Just not the front door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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