Reader home: The 2-hour entryway reset

Plus how to get free in-person organizing help from me.

Today I have a classic before/after reveal for you. Growing up, I used to love watching HGTV and to this day can’t resist a dramatic reveal.

Here’s the backstory: I have some good friends in Portland who bought an adorable Victorian a few years ago. Our kids play together, so I’m over there a lot.

One day they included me in an ongoing couples debate—you know the kind—about whether to add a powder room in a hallway area. They thought maybe they didn’t have space becuase they use that area as an entry landing zone.

I could see a solution to this quandry and was itching to show them. Luckily, they agreed to partner with me for 2 hours one day to make this vision a reality. Here’s how it went down, including the principles we applied.

Before: The potential corner for a future bathroom was in heavy use.

Principle: One place for each type of thing

I noticed that this family had 4 different places they were putting coats, and 3 places for shoes. With my mantra of one place for each category guiding the way, it was clear how we could consolidate their entryway system and free up a lot of space.

We were able to consolidate shoes to just two spots: the entryway built-in bench for the dad and kid’s shoes, and the hallway closet for the mom’s shoes.

The entryway built-in bench opens, which is cool in theory but the cavernous space welcomes chaos. We added some tall drawer dividers to give each person their own shoe area.

I’m a fan of each family member having a specific spot for their shoes, rather than a grab-bag for the whole family where everyone has to dig through each other’s shoes. Which leads me to the next principle…

Principle: Don’t let stuff block important items

There is a fabulous hall closet off the kitchen that frankly I’d die to have, but it was underutilized. They didn’t like opening it because the broom would invariably fall out, and the vacuum made it hard to access things inside. We all know how annoying it is to have to move things to get to the thing you want.

We were able to solve this with a stick-on broom hanger and by removing everything from the floor except the vacuum, which we shifted out of the way to the side.

The built-in shelves overhead were begging for shoes (or maybe only I hear voices like this?) so we put the mom’s shoes there.

Sometimes a well-selected organizer thingie can transform the whole space. Hanging up the broom was a game changer.

Principle: Get rid of organizing furniture wherever possible

And just like that…with two hours of focus, we were able to achieve a streamlined entryway where each item has a unique home, reduce visual noise, and get rid of some clutter they didn’t need. With the streamlined system, they were able to downsize larger organizing pieces like the coat rack and shoe rack.

They can see now they don’t need this entryway dropzone, so might actually put in that bathroom. They dropped off a donation bag later that day and texted me how nice it all felt.

Before:

After:

Not bad for a couple hours of work, eh? And on that note…

✨ Announcing: Express Organizing ✨

Do you live in Portland, OR and want a couple hours of free organizing help? I had so much fun with this project, I want to do more! If you are in the area and in need of organizing help, please reach out below. If it seems like a fit, I will come to your house and work on a project alongside you for 2 hours in exchange for (anonymized) inclusion in this newsletter. We will laugh, we might cry, but we will definitely get lots done!

*Please include your email address in your message to me

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