Welcome over here DRK. I would like to say, you have a beautiful home with great potential. Thanks for sharing your photos. That said, just to address the coat hanging thing, was that a hall closet in one of the photos?

This is the only one I can find right now, but I was thinking of something made more like this, so it can hold their coats and shoes. I've also seen them where the bottom area is open, so they can just set their shoes in it.
{{!gwi}}

Laurie

Yes, redsox24! In the 2nd to last photo you can see a small closet. There is a coat rod in there. Right now I have the vacuum in there...and other cleaning supplies. But we *could* hang coats there, I suppose. But, with little girls...coming in/out, in/out...i think it would not be practical...and they can't reach up high enough.

Yea!! People are replying!! ;-)

DRK

Laurie,

Where did you find that?? Thanks. ;-)

DRK

DRK,
In your hall closet, can you hang some coat hooks on the inside for the little ones. This way they can reach and it is much easier to hang on a hook.

Lovely home you have
Susan

DRK,

I found it at Ballard Designs.

Laurie

Here is a link that might be useful: Ballard Designs

Hi, DRK and welcome!!!

Your hallway looks great!

About the rug: You can get inexpensive, washable little rugs in an oriental pattern that look quite nice inside the front door. Buy a couple of these -- wipe your feet on them and don't worry!

I think you should definitely use the coat closet as a coat closet. Mount some coathooks on the inside of the door low enough for the little ones to hang their coats on.

Those cubby things look great in photos, but it's impossible to keep them neat.

How about a simple bench with drawers for shoes? Something like this -- they make all kinds of these benches --

Here's one that's open at the bottom like I was talking about. I'm pretty sure this one was custom built though.

Laurie

Here is a link that might be useful: storage area

Hi Drk - This might be a stupid question, but does your home have a second entrance that would be more suitable for the daily heavy traffic, and can be set up as a mud room/service entrance?

DRK - I cannot be of much help. I ask far more questions than I answer, but just want to say that you have a beautiful home and my hat is off to you for wanting to create a great environment for your children. You have come to the right place here. The people are so wonderful and giving. I cannot believe the time some give to help the rest of us!! Keep asking questions --- and best of luck to you!!

Your home is beautiful and warm! Check out Pottery Barn's website, click on "Furniture" then "Entryway" - I'm the worst at posting pictures, but they have several options, and some with the bottom storage being "open."

For the rug-- I think what's making it look a little strange is it size and informal pattern in contrast with the big rug.

When I was a teenager, the nicest house I babysat at had a mudroom with a light beige sisal rug, and I think something like that might suit you. The one they had was about the color of the tweed swatch on the page linked below. I would look for one that filled the whole entry, from side-to-side.

(I've never bought from this place, so I don't know if you'd want to use them-- they were just the first place that had what I was picturing.)

You could install hooks at the right height in the closet if you wanted the kids to use them... but I think the hall closet's location might make it a little unlikely that the kids will remember to use it.

A lot of the type of benches you're looking at will have cubbies/locker-type space that the kids can use easily. Two things I would consider when deciding what to get-- first, I personally would shy away from the one with the hinged lid you were looking at. This is mostly because I can imagine shoes getting separated in there and the pile being a pain to sort through. And second, if you get one with hooks, be sure to have enough hooks for any of your kids' friends who come over. Those jackets and backpacks multiply!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sisal rugs

Here's a two-piece option. I probably like the one piece better, but this would give the girls a place to sit down while they take their shows off. I don't know if girls are anything like boys, but mine would probably just sit on the floor :)

Laurie

Here is a link that might be useful: two piece option

Welcome DRK. You have a lovely space there. In a perfect world there would be no muddy/snowy feet and no need for true foot wiping. When you find that world, let me know, ok? Seriously, I wouldn't sweat the need for a washable rug at your door. You don't live in a magazine shoot, and IRL people need to wipe their feet.

I have the same thought as roguevalley. It's certainly easiest if you have the mudroom type option but not every house works that way. Until we put on an addition, we had to find a place for all our stuff when our boys were young. This is what my DH did in our entry closet so our boys could hang their own coats. The hooks were placed to be high enough to keep coats off the floor but low enough so they could reach and it worked well for many years. I kept the same type of mat you now have on the floor of the closet for shoes. It's the rare house that has enough closet space for family coats, guest coats, shows, vacuums....... we all have to make do in one way or another!

{{!gwi}}

I love the look of sisal rugs, too, but be sure you buy one that can be cleaned and doesn't stain easily. We purchased ours through Norwalk, when we ordered furniture, several years ago, and it looked great, but even water "stained." We were very disappointed. This was back in 2001, so I'm sure times have changed. I've read that seagrass is actually more durable?

Seagrass and sisal rugs looks great -- for about a week. They show dirt like crazy.

The pattern on a little oriental rug disguises the dirt!

Hi "singledad', I remember you from over at kitchens...glad to see you're now at the decorating stage.
If you have space on the right as you come in msrose's suggestion of the cubbies works well ....or at least something similar did for me with four kids..if each kid has their own space, it makes for less mess and gives you a place to toss things quickly.The bench part also gives you somewhere to put things ..school lunch? not for teacher?dance costume?? so that things don't get forgotten on the grab out the door...
We bulit our own coat shelf with two rows of hooks [but it was a back door]..and then tucked shelf/cubby holes on one end so that it wasn't visible from the family room seating area....how messy each kids hole was was really up to them and every so often I would vacuum out the mess.
If you have a lot of snow you'll never really get rid of the "drain Board" rubber tray...
Don't forget an outside mat ..that really cuts down on the muck that's brought in...
Good luck.

Hi, and welcome!

First of all, your home is gorgeous!

About the rug: We have a small dark oriental in front of the door and it holds up well to our comings and goings. I just get it cleaned once a year. Another option would be just to get something very plain, that you can just rinse off once/week:

http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?storeId=1&catalogId=1&langId=-1&categoryId=40842&sc1=Search&feat=sr

As for coat/shoe storage, given the old world feel of your interior, I wouldn't go with something new (which wouldn't hold up to kid-abuse as well as a well-built something old, anyway). I'm thinking something along the lines of an antique hall tree. I've linked to one on ebay (I wouldn't recommend buying something like this from ebay, but just as an example). These type of things come up for sale rather often on Craigslist, at least in my area, and I think it would look beautiful in your entryway.

Here is a link that might be useful: Oak Hall Tree

Sorry, wrong link. Here's the right one!

Here is a link that might be useful: Antique Hall Tree

In our last house I tried to use on of those bench/hooks storage things and never got the kids to really use it for shoes. The hooks were used, but usually we ended up with more then one jacket per person there. If you can use the closet at all I'd encourage that. Try to not really store anything in there and use it just for daily shoes/jackets.

For the rug I can't tell if you have a good mat outside the door. I'd get a really good mat out there and just use the existing rug moved closer to the door. I find these rugs clean up really well and would jsut use it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pic of our old bench/hook set up

Like cfrizz suggested, why not an outside mat for getting your shoes clean before entering the house? Then you do not need this little silly thing anymore.

Nice house and welcome :)

Hi drk,

As some others have suggested, USE that coat closet and install the lower hooks for the girls.

If you use a hall tree, bench or something similar, I think you are still going to have that messy look as you enter your beautiful home.

Do you happen to know the name of your paint? It's sure pretty!

Oh my, thanks for all the outpouring of help!! You all are going to be great assistance!

Here is the closet:

and there is a little space around that corner across from the closet....what could I put there?

Actually, I do have a lower floor of the house....with entry from my garage directly into the house!! I should be looking to use that as a primary entrance, shouldn't I?? It has an easy clean floor,,,,,I could put all the coats, shoes down there....make that the functional entrance to the house. I should be parking my car in the garage anyway....but I just tend to pull up in the circular front drive and run in..

The paint color is SW Restrained Gold. I used it in the entire front part of the house.

What do you recommend for a nice outside mat to wipe feet?? They all seem to fall apart or look cheap to me. I want to have something classy! Thanks sooo much.

DRK

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to my kitchen pics

Drkona, I would strongly recommend if you can to use the entry from the garage. It will save your sanity. We always us the garage entry to the house through the laundry room and only use the front door when we have company or special occasions. I love your wall color!

Ah, that's a great closet -- and a perfect corner for something like this:

{{!gwi}}

My ideas:

Start using the garage entry. Make sure there's storage / hanging space there.

For the front entry, the wall just opposite the door would look nice with a small, open table with a mirror above it and a plant or something on the table. Right now it's very bare.

mclarke: where did you find that corner niche??
Yes, I need to get the downstairs entry up and running....
thanks-
DRK

I'm totally no help at all. Nice digs, drk.

OK, don't be mad. : ) Check this out; it's a little on the pricey side, but it would look great with all the cool stuff you already have.

Here is a link that might be useful: gorgeous mahogany and leather hall tree

Hey again, DRK --

The corner thingies are at The Company Store.

Here's a link --

Here is a link that might be useful: Click here --

I also like this bench...

mclarke-
that is super cool....where was that from?
drk

I had one of those tilt-out shoe holders in our last house. It worked pretty well unless you had boots / oversized shoes.

drkona, Your house looks great! I would look for a small chest or console to go on the wall directly in front of you when you come in the front door. Maybe with a mirror hung above it and a lamp and a picture of your kids on the chest. That would make a welcoming entrance. Ballard Designs has a lot of little chests/consoles.

re: the closet - definitley use it. Install lower hooks or maybe consider having California Closets or someone come out to put some organizing stuff in there to maximize the space. I like what mclarke posted for that corner by the closet. You could also have someone (handyman, finish carpenter) come and build you a little bench and hooks for that space too. If you can train everyone to use that area, that would be great!

Have fun!