Entry Hall 'Mud Room' Planning

Yes, I'm still keeping myself busy planning out our new house decor!

And my latest planning has taken me to our entry hall. It's next to the entryway/foyer, but separated by an open door jam from the entry way, and leads to the back of the house.

I've (of course) found lots of inspiration online for what to do with our entry hall, but my favorite inspiration photo is this one below. A narrow bench with great storage in a hallway. And although we have a slightly wider space to work with, I think something like this would be perfect for hanging up my purse, coats, scarves, and storing easy access shoes, like flip flops or my yard work tennis shoes. It will also be an easy place for guests to hang their coats when they come over, but I like that this hall area is separate from our entry, so this won't really be visible to anyone just standing at the front door.

Plus, it's a cute solution to the fact that the two closets on the other side of the entry hall don't currently have clothes rods installed. They just have a bunch of shelves in them, so there's no good place for hanging up coats currently.

Source

And if I zoom in on our floor plan, you can see there's the perfect little wall between the entry and the main stairs for a little entry hall bench, about the same depth as the one in my inspiration picture!

Of course, the entry hall needs a lot of work first, just like the rest of the house. There's a reason I've been referring to it as a "project house"!

Here's what the entry hall looks like as of right now, with the seller's stuff still around:

Before I can even implement my plans for the entry hall, I'm going to have to tackle some other things first, including lots of painting.

But once the hall is cleaned up, I'll be able to put in something like this, to the right of the stairs (This is the straight on view, as if you were standing on the opposite wall of the entry hall)!

Organized cuteness! A shelf about 2/3rds up the wall, with crown moulding underneath it, for displaying pretty things. Beadboard on the wall, with coat hooks installed on it. A storage bench (that I want to build myself), with shelves for storing shoes and some storage baskets. And I'll use blue on the walls, which will flow into the family room and kitchen, and accents in red and yellow, to tie in the red and yellow color schemes of the formal living room and dining room.

Regarding the storage bench, I really liked the clean look of the bench in my inspiration photo, but after thinking about it, it's not the right design for us. Using a hinge on the top of the bench to access the storage area would keep things tidy, but if, say, both my husband and I come in from working in the yard, and want to sit down and take off our shoes at the same time, we wouldn't be able to access the storage without both of us standing up. So a more accessible bench design is what I'm planning.

And the best part is, all of this will be pretty inexpensive to implement, but make a big (and useful) impact!

Has anyone else been lusting after mud room concepts...on Pinterest, perhaps? ;) Have any of you put in a storage bench or coat hooks in an entry or hall area?