So our hall (or entryway if you prefer) has been getting on my nerves for a while. As the first place we hit when we come home, it had become a dumping ground for more and more things that didn’t need to live there. We have a small console table, which is great, as every home needs a ‘landing strip’ – somewhere to put down your keys and wallet as you arrive in the door (and to quickly grab them on your way out). But our landing strip had become ‘the land of forgotten things’. It was ridiculous!
Horrible right? Who wants to look at that every time they walk in the front door? (Please ignore the full laundry basket in the background, I’ll have another post featuring changes I’ve made to our laundry system very soon!).
And here’s another shot …
Just yuck. Stuff everywhere. And I can’t even blame it all on my husband, that little red number and the toilet bag on top of the table – yup, definitely mine!
Despite what I expected, this was actually a quick job. We’re renters, so the console table and mirror belong to the landlord, so there wasn’t going to be any changes there. It was purely a matter of organising ALL of the clutter!
I took everything off the table and sorted it into piles based on category (throwing out a LOT of rubbish in the process!). I already had the two cute little mirrored trays (from Dunnes Stores – although they don’t seem to have them any longer, but they probably have something similar). There is now one designated tray each for myself and my husband and they contain just what we need to grab / drop as we come and go – so basically just keys, wallet and a few different store cards. Everything else went to its proper place – so the handbag went into the wardrobe, the paper work went into the office, the toiletries into the bathroom and so on.
I also put the faux flowers away under the stairs (where we keep a few things belonging to the landlord that we don’t want to display). They just seemed to be a magnet for dust and didn’t provide the hallway with any colour either, so they were given their marching orders! Instead I got a gorgeous pink hydragena arrangement in a stone flower pot (a steal at €30!) and added that to the centre of the table instead.
And here’s how the hall looks now … drum roll please! …
Quite the transformation isn’t it? (I also remembered to close the bathroom door this time when I was taking the photo, yay me!).
And how about from another angle?
Isn’t it so much better? I love the pop of colour as I walk into the hall now, despite the continuing cold outside, I at least feel like Spring has arrived inside the house!
You might also notice that my husband’s tray has a small glass dish inside to corral loose change as well (how come men always seem to leak change around the house?). The glass dish was something I had already, it originally had a mini sized dessert in it and I kept it thinking I could use it for something in the future, and it works perfectly here.
I can’t tell you how much happier having this area organised has made me. It’s so much easier to find my keys in the morning now that I don’t have to hunt under a whole mess of stuff!
So how about one final shot? Everyone’s favourite before and after side-by-side comparison …
A world of difference 15 minutes makes!
I did this about two weeks ago and it still looks exactly the same. So far the new system is working for us, this is partly due to other systems I’ve also put in place which I’ll share with you in the coming weeks.
So what do you think? How do you organise your hall? Do you find your ‘landing strip’ overloaded with things that don’t need to be there? How do you deal with it?
Life in Ryans' 
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