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JennGM
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How do you organize your shoes, coats, sports equipment, hats that come into the house? I like to have shoes by the door...and now we enter through the garage. We have a little mudroom that I want to organize. I'm really inspired by this expensive number by Pottery Barn but I would love to hear how you solve this eternal problem!!!
Does Ikea have something like this?
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Family in Feast and Feria
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rivendellmom
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Jenn,
We have the homemade "scrounged" version of the Pottery Barn thing. DH took the closet doors off of the coat closet that is in our entry way and used a pvc pipe across the top for a coat rack, and then cut up white shelving from home depot for the dividing walls of our cubbies. Each cubby has the PVC across the top, plus hooks on the back and side wall. I have a basket at the bottom of each for shoes and a basket on the top for gloves, shin guards etc. I can email you a digital picture if you want. It was easy and cheap to make. We are actually planning on adding to our mudroom this spring. We'll have a door to the backyard, a shower in the powder room and room for 8 cubbies, which is more than we need now, but I'm looking ahead to the future!
Hope this helps!
Jen
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Courtney
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I have a friend that just bought a different basket for each member of the family. THey each keep their shoes in their own shoe basket. We keep ours in the garage on a 3 tiered shelf. My dh has one shelf (with only one pair of shoes on it), the kids share a shelf and I have a shelf with almost every pair of shoes I own on it! We're big on not wearing shoes on the carpet. It does help preserve the life of the carpet especially if it's a version of white!
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Courtney in Texas
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Sarah
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We have hooks for coats, a little plastic three drawer thing from dept. store-top drawer: hats, Mid Drawer: scarves, Bottom drawer: gloves, A huge rattan basket with flip lid(cheap from dept. store but looks like PB)for all regular shoes & frequent items (shin guards during the season, etc.) Special shoes and other more infrequent stuff in their own closets in crates (but have easy access). They have to put those items away in their rooms themselves. The plastic drawer thing and big shoes basket are out of sight in the entryway closet. Wish we had a mudroom! We have five kids and this system works well.
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Mary Chris
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I have those hanging shoe pockets, on the inside part of the door, in my hallway closet and mud/laundry room. We do use it for storing shoes, but in the winter I put scarves and mittens in it also.
My husband put up a ton of shelves in our mud/laundry room, I find that very handy!
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mom to MacKenzie3/95, Carter 12/97 Ronan 3/00 and wife to Jim since 1/92
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Erica Sanchez
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Jenn,
If you want something like the Pottery Barn one, you should shop around a little first. A few years ago we bought one with just hooks and a bench with a lid that was similar to what PB was offering at the time for only abut $100.00. I'm sure it's not as nice as the PB one, but it is cute and functional. I think Target, and there must be other places, are pretty good about PB knockoffs!
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Erica in San Diego
(dh)Cash, Emily, Grace, Nicholas, Isabella, Annie, Luke, Max, Peter, 2 little souls ++, and sweet Rose who is legally ours!
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esperanza
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Jenn,
My dh moved the wall over in our entry to accommodate our brood entering the house, popping off our shoes. We used to have just hooks for coats but the shoes didn't have a tidy place. I have two of these in my entry hall, on either side of the living room entrance. I removed the baskets..I didn't like the color. We keep sports equipment in the garage.
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Tammy Gonzalez in VA
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momtomany
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We have a pretty good sized mud room coming in from our garage. We have it filled with quite a configuration of those closet organizer type things from Home Depot. Places to hang coats, put shoes, sports equipmant, barn stuff, also a closet for cleaning supplies,etc.
I had 7 home for the summer, now two left for college and one of the college grads is moving back home. So it's not as neat as it could be. 
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Mary Ann in PA
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Marybeth
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Jenn,
Do you have anyone around you that could build a piece like the PB catalog? My girlfriend was able to find a man willing to make a few pieces for her--entry way cabinet, bookshelves, toyboxes and something things for the bedrooms...sometimes it can worth it even though the initial monetary outlay can seem pricey. My girlfriend paid about 1000 for what would have been 5000 in PB and was able to really "finish" off her house much quicker than buying piecemeal.
Just my 2 cents....
Marybeth
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Elizabeth
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We just scatter them all over the first floor, from the front door to the mudrrom off the garage, and then the dog takes them, separates pairs of shoes and hides them wherever he pleases. Backpacks are dropped on the floor of the mudroom, crammed with sweaty clothes, unless of course, there is a leaking water bottle in them. Then, they are left on the wood floor, so as to effect the most damage. I find this whole system works very well to discourage me from leaving home too often .
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JennGM
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Elizabeth wrote:
| We just scatter them all over the first floor, from the front door to the mudroom off the garage, and then the dog takes them, separates pairs of shoes and hides them wherever he pleases. Backpacks are dropped on the floor of the mudroom, crammed with sweaty clothes, unless of course, there is a leaking water bottle in them. Then, they are left on the wood floor, so as to effect the most damage. I find this whole system works very well to discourage me from leaving home too often . |
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 ROFL...
Having your schedule and your commitment to cleaning your house, I find this hard to believe that it STAYS like this for very long...but you paint an active picture!
But I see that I will have an uphill battle no matter if we have a spot or not...it's the nature of the child!
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Family in Feast and Feria
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JennGM
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Such great ideas here! Thanks for giving so much feedback!
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Bookswithtea
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Garage for the shoes!?! Why didn't I think of that!?!?
We enter through the garage most of the time, too, and my mudroom is very small and has a utility sink and washer and dryer too, which leaves me very little room for shoes and jackets. We have a ton of hooks on the wall for the jackets and that seems to be working, but when I have to get out winter boots we are all going to be tripping over everything if I don't do something, soon. I never thought about unloading all the shoes in the garage and then coming into the mudroom.
Thank you! I think y'all just solved my own mudroom problems! :-)
Bookswithtea
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lilac hill
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In addition to a tile floor and two rows of pegs for coats and bags Rick built a cabinet. Everyone has a drawer in the cabinet for sunglasses, , softball gloves, and mittens and hats in the winter. If it does not fit, I remove it to the appropriate bedroom. I also move "good " coats to the front closet as the pegs overfill. The top part of the cabinet holds the dog leashes and a flashlight. On top is a basket for the stuff that goes to Rick's shop. (When it overflows, I carry it out>) Presently my drawer holds sunglasses and seeds for fall planting.
When growing up in a western NY winter we kept boots and shoes lined up in the garage.Mom lined them up because no one wanted to dig through a large bin of dirty shoes. Mom brought in the boots and shoes in the AM so they would be warm when we left for school. She took such good care of us
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Viv
Wife to Rick (7/83), Mom to dd#1(6/87), dd#2(1/90), and dd#3(6/94) in central PA.
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Elizabeth
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Bookswithtea wrote:
Garage for the shoes!?! Why didn't I think of that!?!?
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We did that for awhile but...
(1) No one liked putting on stiff cold shoes in the winter.
(2) Mice liked to hide in the shoes. Sometimes they died in there. Discovering dead mice in one's shoes is always traumatic somehow.
And Jenn, really that is pretty much always the way shoes are here, despite my best effort. We even manage to lose shoes of people who don't live here... I AM pretty OCD about the damp backpacks though--and I've been know to throw them rather forcefully at children who just don't get it.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Bookswithtea
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***(2) Mice liked to hide in the shoes. Sometimes they died in there. Discovering dead mice in one's shoes is always traumatic somehow***
Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!! Hmmmmm...will have to consider that. I still can't believe how dirty the snowboots get. I used to wear them in Connecticut to play in the snow or to walk to school when I was a kid, but golly, I sure don't remember this much mud and nasty stuff caked on them. Maybe dirt just sticks to my kids more than average? :-P
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BrendaPeter
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Hi Jenn,
We use one of these shoe racks from Walmart in the garage - [url] http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=34293 64 [ /url]
No mice yet !
Inside the mudroom hallway, we have one of those organizers from Target. It's amazing how much room is in the bench - no problem storing hats & mittens for 6 kids. It could use a few more hangers but I double up & use it for the kids' lightweight coats. We keep the bulky winter coats hanging on hooks in the garage since they are often wet & it's a better place for them to dry off.
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Elizabeth
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We do keep boots and cleats (theoretically) in the garage on shoe shelves. This winter, I'll try to be more like Viv's mom and warm them. And I store just a few "dress shoes" that currently fit no one there as well. (That's where we found dehydrated mice--there were four years between Patrick's need of the shoes and Stephen's). We have shoe pocket organizers hanging over the foyer closet door and over the mudroom door. Only shoes of children under ten seem to fit in there. My biggest shoe problem is that my dh, and two eldest sons all have about the same size feet. It drives each of them crazy when the other wears his shoes but they all do it. And when the dog gets in the mix and one of these "big boys" can't find a pair? Not pretty. I keep all my shoes in a shoe pocket organizer in my closet.
My mudroom is very narrow (which is why the backpacks make me nuts--no room for them). The closet in there was converted to a second pantry. There are nine hooks along one wall and the washer and dryer on the other wall. Hooks hold seasonal play coats and raincoats. Good coats are in the foyer closet and outgrown coats are in a storage unit in the basement. Hats, mittens, and baseball caps are stored in clear plastic bins on a shelf in the foyer closet. I think that Target bench unit might be perfect for adult male shoes. The dog couldn't get at them and it's large enough to store the big ones. I feel a weekend project...
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Laura
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I've been enyoying this post immensely. It motivated me to clean out our entryway closet. What great ideas you all have! Elizabeth you had me OTFL! Yes, shoes can get slightly out of hand in a large family. Caleb has the "shoe job" each Friday where he must straighten all shoes and make sure they are in the closet....poor poor kid. He is fighting a losing battle. He also must clean the window by the front door. Our barking German Shepherd sticks his face in tha window all day long!
Now if only we could all get a grip on the sock monster. I've basically given up on that one and so we buy new socks often in our family.
JMJ,
Laura in Va
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lilac hill
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Elizabeth wrote: My biggest shoe problem is that my dh, and two eldest sons all have about the same size feet. It drives each of them crazy when the other wears his shoes but they all do it. And when the dog gets in the mix and one of these "big boys" can't find a pair? Not pretty.
Can you step away from this?
You have plenty to do!
Do you think the boys and you husband will help you when your daughter shares your size and you are frnatically searching for the nabbed shoes, belt,hairbrush,sunglasses, shirt... in you bathrobe three minutes before you have to be out the door. 
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Viv
Wife to Rick (7/83), Mom to dd#1(6/87), dd#2(1/90), and dd#3(6/94) in central PA.
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Entryway / Mudroom Organization
