Keeping Our Entry Clutter Free

Hi Everyone!

Are you like me and HATE a messy entryway? 

Especially when your entryway is completely open to the living room?

Yeah, it's a known fact around here that I don't like clutter and piles and I have been know to get really cranky at times (especially late at night when I'm really tired and should be in bed) about piles and chaos. hehe

This past January I made a goal to work on organizing our home throughout the whole year and try try try to make it function better with the way we live and use spaces.

I can happily say we've made really good progress with that goal. It will be a never ending goal since as our children grow and we change we will need to tweak things but getting inital systems in place hopefully will help with future tweaking.

So onto our entryway....

 In order to help define an entry, we used a dresser to help keep us organized.

 Each  drawer has a purpose and is labeled. 

Yep, I love my label maker and have found that labels really help keep us all on the same page about what belongs and what doesn't belong. I can guarantee without things labeled, every drawer would become a typical junk drawer.

Our dailies drawer has little plastic bins (from Container Store) to further keep things such as sunglasses, glasses, store discount cards, and change sorted. We use this drawer the most when we are coming and going.

Another drawer holds camera gear such a battery chargers, cords, manuals, etc. It makes it so much easier to grab the battery charger or a specific cord when we know exactly where to find it.

Next comes a drawer for my Silhouette. It holds all of my e-cutter media and the machine itself. I use my Silhouette at our new laptop desk that sits in a cozy corner of the living room so having this stuff nearby works best for me! It's not at all an entryway type of item but again, this is a system that works for us and how we live and use our spaces. :)

And the last drawer wears two hats. 

One half holds my knitting and/or crocheting projects....

...and the other half is where items that need returning go. It's nice to see that side empty!
Right now both sides are open to each other but I have big plans to add a divider in the near future.

And if we jump back up to the top of the dresser I added a basket for out-going mail. It makes it easy to grab bills and cards on the way out the door and make sure they make it to the mailbox on time!

And as I said in my last post I actually perfer in-coming mail to come straight to the kitchen island to quickly sort out the junk which goes into a shred bin in the pantry/laundry room right off the kitchen and then bills get taken to an armiore also in the kitchen/dining area and get put away where they belong until bill paying day. At the most you will find on the island after that are the flyers with coupons and I'm pretty good at going through those within a day or two and filing them away.

Do you have any rock star tips that keep your entry or landing zone organized? 

I'd love to hear!

{HOME}

It is early in the morning and my husband is off to work, my children are watching a cartoon before breakfast and I'm finishing up my 1st cup of coffee. I love this time off the day when things are still pretty calm around here. But soon the day will take off, school will start at our dining room table, the day's cleaning will be done and lunches made all before naptime in the afternoon when it will be quite again. So ya, I like mornings, even though I'm not a huge morning person. Sleeping in is always nice but there is something about the calmness of the morning that I love so much.

I've been dreaming about my new etsy line, coming up with ideas and plans and making them happen. It is so much fun to dream and then see it come true. Isn't the picture above inviting? The warm plaid and felt all mixed together to create this yummy little piece? I think so. It is just one of the new items coming soon (hopefully by tonight!) to my shop. Stop by if you can and check it out. I think it will be something that you will want to take home with you.

Happy Monday Friends!

Christina