A Bowl Full of Lemons

“Hon, did you see my keys?  Mom, where is my bike helmet?”  Sound familiar?  Everyone stop and go hunt for the keys, the helmet (and my mind, for that matter).

We all need a landing pad.  Ideally, a mudroom would be a great place to store all these things.  However, I live in Miami and mudrooms are not really popular.  Some people do have large foyers that they can add storage to, and create an area to “land”.  But if your home is like mine, there is no foyer, no mudroom, and when you walk in, you are in the living room.

In my case, this meant that we always had keys throughout the house, my purse was always on the furniture (that chair that you see in the corner was my former purse spot).  There was no space to add cabinetry that could be a home for these items AND even if there was, I had decorated this room kinda formal, so where could I possibly store roller skates without creating an eye sore?

Well, there was this little wall, a narrow wall, that I could work with.  The first thing I did was add a place for keys.  We always had one of these, but not in the entrance.  We realized that none of us was disciplined enough to walk all the way to the office the moment that we walk in the home, to hang up our keys.  We need a place for our keys as soon as we walk in.  My husband will still misplace the keys now and again, but it’s not a daily or even a weekly occurrence (well, maybe weekly, lets not get carried away here 🙂 ).

I found this cool deer head to hold my purse.  I love elegant and practical solutions!  Thank you dear deer!

I added a couple of decorations to marry the functionality of this little wall with the more formal look of the room.

I still had all the sports gear to organize.  I couldn’t really hang the skates on the wall, could I?  Unless I spray painted them gold to match the decor.  But I have two boys and that would surely do wonders for their reputation.

I decided to use the buffet that I have in the entrance for more than just formal silverware.  I just had to find the right bins for the job.

I didn’t want wicker baskets because I knew the boys would constantly be pulling these baskets out and that would completely scratch the furniture.  I also didn’t want plastic or flimsy bins that would not match the furniture piece.  Then came Target to the rescue!  I found these “fancier” bins at Target that had a felt bottoms and were sturdy and were on clearance.  Could they be more perfect?!

The bins that the boys use are the open bins.  If there is a lid on the bin, they won’t use it.  I know my boys.  The other two boxes on either side, have lids which works perfectly for me.

Here you can see their skates, knee pads and helmets.

This is a close up of the basket.  Isn’t it a perfect match to the furniture?  The hardware is even similar to the one on the furniture.  It’s the little things.

Here is the closed basket.  I have candles in this one and the other one is empty (for now).

I really liked the hardware on these!  Of course, I labeled it.

And look at the kids in these pictures.  They look like the kind of kids that would never make a mess.  Ha!  Nope, I want them to make messes, ride their bikes, glide in their blue skates, I just want systems to make our lives easier, smoother and more fun!

Fun fact (unless you are me) I never learned to roller-skate.  If I did, I would have skates, and they would be gold.

– Maria

Maria Gonzalez

Maria Gonzalez is the talented blogger behind Graceful Order, where she blogs about organizing, cleaning and entertaining. She lives in sunny Florida with her husband and two boys. She's passionate about living a healthy, balanced life. A life where she is in charge of her home and not the other way around. A life with a little bit of order, and a whole lot of grace! Visit her at http://gracefulorder.com.

Tags: entryway, organizing
Blog, October 2014, Organize Posted in 11 comments