Foyer Storage for Shoes, Bags and Keys

When I want my family to put their own things away - it's got to be pretty convenient for them or they won't do it. How hard can it be to throw shoes in a wooden box?

It worked for a while but my kids' shoe sizes change so often that our shoes piled up and I never cleaned it out - they were overflowing.

After a little organizing of the shoes - I placed the ones that actually fit on the lower shelf of this bench. The big boots are Ben's - he loves to explore in marshy places.

I took away the long iron set of hooks and replaced them with my old door chalkboard (hung from large D rings onto Monkey hooks). Each boy has one hook for his backpack. The chalk sits in that old match holder. I was finding that more storage wasn't necessarily better. All those hooks invited everything to land on them - creating a cluttered mess. The big wooden shoe box just held more shoes that we didn't use plus other junk.

The foyer table had to move to the other wall. Since it was custom made to fit the long wall - I had to cut just the top down about 1 inch each side. I used a circular saw for that task. I don't like to use circular saws but they are necessary for jobs like this.

The table got a paint color change, also. Artichoke by Valspar from Lowe's. It matches my stairs. You can see a lamp cord there - shoot! I tried to hide those.

I turn on the foyer lamps at dusk. To make it easy to turn them on together - I used an extension cord with an on-off button. It doesn't show behind the metal wall art that I use to hide the plugs and cords.

That narrow table works well there.

I like our foyer shape a lot but it is really hard to give you a full picture.

Here is the floor plan - if that helps.

I like these old french doors placed on either side of the main front door. This one has a hook for my keys. The preserved boxwoods that I made earlier this year are pretty here, too.

The pictures on the wall have been hung some place in my home for years. The boys are 5 years old in them. So little and sweet. (well - not always sweet) The foyer feels lighter and a little simpler.

My shadow, Ms. Mazi, stood next to me every minute of this project (besides the sawing part). I think she misses the boys while they are at school. I went out to lunch three times this week....wow! Back to school is great! Maybe next week I will try to go to the gym three times instead of out to lunch.

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