4 Tips For Keeping Your Entryway Clean And Organized

The home's entryway serves as a delicate boundary between the chaos of the outside world and the security of the private sanctuary. As the first thing a guest sees when they enter someone's house and the last thing they see when they exit, it also sets a crucial impression for the rest of the space.

Unfortunately, for such a place of distinction, the entryway is often given little thought and seems to have the quickest accumulation of clutter in the house. Without properly designated storage solutions, the place that should warmly receive us can easily become an unwelcoming jumble of shoes, junk mail, keys, and jackets.

According to Psychology Today, clutter can negatively impact your mood, your mental processing, and even your diet. Without a tactic to tackle it, entryway clutter quickly becomes overwhelming. In order to effectively keep the disorder at bay, we've compiled the four best organizational methods that make the biggest difference for a clean and organized entryway.

One of the easiest and most helpful changes you can make in your entryway or foyer is installing hooks on the wall. Since hanging something on a hook is nearly as easy as setting it down, it becomes a low-effort way to keep things looking tidy. Far beyond storing jackets, a row of hooks can become a home base for masks, keys, bags, and accessories as well. This has the added benefit of freeing up horizontal surfaces for additional storage solutions.

There are many attractive hooks on the market for whatever your preferred aesthetic may be, so you aren't limited by making purely utilitarian design choices here. (However, something as simple as a plain old Command hook makes a big difference!) If you're feeling particularly crafty, you could even DIY your own hooks to perfectly fit in with the rest of your decor, as Paper & Stitch did with some cute geometric wooden hooks. Or, you may opt for a more elaborate pegboard situation.

Just a few pairs of shoes left in a haphazard pile can make an entryway look far more cluttered. To instantly make things look neater, designate a shoe rack, closet, or other location for shoes. Even if the best you can manage is a tidy row of shoes lined up against the wall, it will make a difference. If you store some shoes and keep some near the door, make sure to limit the number of pairs that are out at a time. If more than your designated number of shoes is out, it will signal to you that it's time to put a pair away. This method makes it easy to access the shoes you wear most often.

However, a shoe rack is in order for the most organized appearance. The Container Store recommends first taking stock of your shoes and sorting them with consideration for how often you wear them and when before choosing the best storage solution, which may involve cubbies, over-the-door organizers, bins, under-bed organizers, freestanding racks, or a combination of systems.

Even with your shoes stowed away and your jacket and keys hung up, you're bound to enter your house with other items in tow and instinctively set them down on the nearest flat surface. Before you know it, a small mountain of mail, receipts, and other ephemera have ruined your organized entryway. The easiest way to combat this is to have a designated place to set things down. This could be a catchall tray, a mail organizer, a basket, or whatever makes the most sense for your personal brand of clutter that tends to pile up.

Spend a week observing the types of objects that accumulate in your entry area and decide what "drop zone" storage solutions are necessary. For example, if you have a large family, it might make sense for each member to have their own bin to stow things away in. On the other hand, if paper clutter seems to pile up the most, a command center with a filing system may be your best bet. The Homes I Have Made recommends a combination of a floating shelf, bulletin board, file sorter, small basket, and hanging rack to tackle the clutter.

For most homes, the entryway is not an especially big area — this rings especially true for apartments. In order to maximize space, it helps to think vertically. Too many pieces of furniture will quickly make an entryway or foyer feel cramped.

Instead of adding a wardrobe or shelving unit, utilize your wall space for storage. With the use of hanging shelves, racks, hooks, or stackable storage bins, you can reclaim a lot of horizontal space. Overall, employing more of your available vertical area and less of the horizontal area will make your entry look more clean and organized, even if you have the same amount of stuff in it.

While seeking goods for your vertical storage solutions, A Cultivated Nest recommends thinking long-term and going for higher-quality materials. Cheap plastic and other flimsy storage items are likely to wear out quickly, forcing you to replace them more often, which is both annoying and creates more waste.