Expanding Small Spaces | Front Entry Part One

 

At the beginning of the summer, our little family moved.  My husband and I looked at (small) houses.  We even looked at one seriously but it didn’t work out.  When it became clear that all we really wanted was our dream house, but that we weren’t in a place to buy that perfect house yet, we made a conscious decision to rent.  For us, and many other people, we decided that rather than invest in a small house we might end up stuck in once we’ve outgrown it, we would rather choose to be “stuck” in a small space while renting temporarily until we could buy something we really wanted.

 

That leaves the four of us in a very happy 906 sq. ft. for the remainder of our current lease.  906 sq. ft. is plenty of space – families in New York City would kill for that much space, and pay a TON of money for it.  But putting everything that a family of four needs and wants into 906 sq. ft. means that you need a lot of creativity.  So rather than settling for our small space, we decided to settle in.

I’ll walk you through our small space in a new series to show you how to make the very most of your own space.  Even if you have a large home, it can start to fill up quickly and using your space efficiently will make your home more peaceful.

Here is where it gets real.  This series will require me to show you MY crazy spaces BEFORE I really dug in.  Be prepared.  These pictures have a bit of a “those who cannot do, teach” feel to them, and were after the initial unpacking. 

The first space I decided to redo was our entry way and front closet:

Can you even imagine why?!  It’s pretty awful.  (In my defense. we had 24 hours to unpack wihtout our little friends along, and we did unpack every box. Unfortunately, that left us with THIS mess.)  We have ONE front closet.  Total.



Our entry way is also our mud-room and command center.  Everything we need to get out the door is all in one space and everything that comes into that space gets dumped nearby, making me feel crazy! 


Here is improvement Number 1.  These hook rails from Target are the new love of my life.  I adore them – just ask my poor husband who hears about them all too often! 



I knew our closet didn’t have enough space for all of our coats, and with winter coming in Minnesota, the influx of “gear” is on its way.  They are PERFECT and cleared space in the closet.

Improvement Number Two coming tomorrow.   If you want to see the final product, you’ll have to stick with me.