So, there's this unfortunate trend out there to call the zone just inside your door the "landing strip." That's no good. Landing strip means something different to me. But the idea of a place to land when you come in, and to gear up before you head out, is a good one. Let's call it a landing zone. As I've mentioned, our entryway was failing in this regard.

There is actually a coat closet right here - oh the luxury! - but it isn't solving all these problems quite the way we need it to.

In its defense, we haven't worked super hard to organize it yet - that is what I'm working on right now, as we turn our attention to this area, having lived with it for a few months and taking note of what we need. Those things we need, most desperately, include:

A place to sit to take shoes on and off. This is critical for Lou, who has taken to going boneless and sliding across the floor when it's time to get ready, and becoming increasingly critical for me, too.
A place to store those shoes when we take them off. For the most part, we haul our shoes back to our hall of closets, but it's convenient to keep some up front, including our snow boots and sneaks (or in the summer, sandals). If I could find the space, I might keep even more frequently-used pairs out here, and eliminate the shoe putting away trips.
A place to put the stuff we bring in or need to remember to take out. Stuff like hats, gloves, tissues, receipts, coupons, returns, shopping bags, umbrellas, yoga mats, mail, keys, and the stroller.
Some sort of rug or runner that is flat enough to fit under the low-hanging front door, and sturdy enough to stand up to all the stamping.

I'm working now to bring all this function in, having the closet to work in conjunction with a more immediate way to dump stuff off. What I mean is, it's great to have a place to hang coats neatly on hangers in the closet. And the shoe organizer on the inside of the door is a good idea (which I recommend). But when we first walk in, huffing and puffing from hauling groceries up the stairs and stamping snow and dog gunk from our shoes, it's nice to have an immediate place to throw the immediate stuff - which in this season is gloves, keys, shoes and coats. And though I ended up hanging the stroller on the front of the coat closet door (see picture right below), I'd really like to move that to the inside of the closet, so I need to find a replacement zone for all the stuff the shoe organizers now.

So I moved in the big pieces - wanna see?

Let me pause here to apologize for the pretty poor photo quality for the remainder of this post. My camera was dying, none of my other batteries were charged, and this area is really hard to photograph, being both cramped and dark. But you get the gist. Here we have a new rug - hooray! - to capture some of the dirt and damp from outside. I recognize that it might be a bit love it or hate it, but I lurve it. And It just looks better and better once I start layering in some of the rest of the stuff, but you'll have to stay tuned for that.

You can also see the new shoe bench! New to us, that is. In one of my more glorious trash picking moments, I hauled this guy home last week. It was a kitchen cabinet in a former life, but it's narrow enough to serve here, even while providing a bit of storage and being sturdy enough to sit on. It's totally fugly, but don't worry - I have plans for it.

First comes rug, then come shoe closet, then comes the actual landing zone and a place for the baby carriage! The layout of this area is a little weird. Here's a view from the door.

See that little slab of wall to your front right? It's just sitting there, so I thought I'd make use of it.

I got these narrow plastic pegboard panels and these baskets from Amazon. I still need lots of hooks - those ones pictured actually don't work - but I installed the pegboards and started playing around with configuration to see what kinds of hooks and such I need to make the most out of the system.

So here's where we are. These are all very much "before" pictures, but they really show a whole lot of progress. With the shoe bench, rug, and pegboard in place, now I can turn to that giant organizing project that will be incorporating the closet into a functioning landing zone. And then, drum roll please, I'll spruce up the shoe cabinet and start a special surprise paint treatment I dreamed up during hours of insomnia last night. Ideas hatched at 2 am are ALWAYS good. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you tomorrow!