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Writer's pictureK Monk

How can I make my entryway BIGGER?

I've been thinking about this a lot. Too much, actually. For a busy family, entryways are an important, essential, aspect to a home. If they don't flow nice it creates a bottle-neck of confusion, and stress. Think I'm kidding? Try having a couple kids and go through a Canadian winter. If your not on top of the never ending coats and mitts, it can look more like a laundry room for winter gear than an entryway. It's also very congested. Like getting ready in an elevator.


I'm sure everyone wishes, like myself, that their front door area had more room (how do those little boots find a way to jam themselves under the door anyway??). Here are 2 ideas to make that possible, let's start with the extreme-scorched-earth idea first:


1. Build an addition!


A small addition to the front of your home can add a lot of value. Not only is it functional with more space, but its a chance to give your home a nose job. It can also reduce your heating bill in the winter by providing additional protection to the front door.


You can really improve the curb appeal with a cool looking gable roof. The beauty of this type of renovation is that it doesn't necessarily need to match the rest of the house in terms of color, or exterior finish. Rather, it can be a statement. Like a feature wall in a living room. If you have a vinyl siding exterior, you can go with a stone look, or go all white with some nice windows, or maybe use cedar shingles.


Now this "statement" is actually very practical. adding just a bit more square footage will ease up that bottleneck and make organizing much easier! What will you do with all that extra room? The possibilities are endless. Granted, not everyone can afford an investment like this, its not gonna be cheap, but it is the Cadillac way to go. So what else can you do?





2. Get rid of the closet!


Ok, this may sound counter intuitive but bare with me here. Let's face it. The closet sucks. The door is hard to close (there's always that one sleeve sticking out, as if to say: "let me outta here!"). It's too small for everything. Its too dark, and what's on that shelf, seriously? It's too high to see in there anyway. Oh but you probably have a trendy basket, right? Well do you take it down every time you come home? It's more like playing basketball with your stuff, just throw it up there and hope it stays.


So get rid of the closet. And now you really need to downsize your stuff. Think seasonal. Put anything extra (i.e. stuff you only use once in awhile, or when your feeling skinny, stuff that doesn't even belong there) away somewhere else, in storage or the spare bedroom closet.


Now you have a fresh pallet, and you can create something gorgeous. Maybe some wainscoting on the wall or some type of wood feature that goes good with your decor. Use hooks on the wall for coats, (they will hang closer to the wall not cutting into the space). You can build a nice bench with storage underneath. Some nice soft close drawers, and a place for shoes. Every inch of space you salvage will make a difference.




Well, that's my rant about front entryways. Spring is on its way so it might be time to think about going outside and wanting to stay out there!






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