Garage Entryway Project: The Problem

We love a beautiful space as much as the next person, but if it’s not functional for our family, somethin’s gotta give! The entryway hall from our garage has become a little prettier than the first time we laid eyes on it. It’s even become a little more functional, but it still isn’t working for us.

The Hallway Entry

There’s not one, not two, but three doors in this small hallway. The first goes to our basement, the second to our garage, and the last to our side/backyard.

Oh, we can’t forget the small door on the right. That’s our chute that leads to the basement laundry room. We love that 1950s character. And that we can just throw our laundry down instead of walking down two flights of stairs. Going up is a different story!

The Progression of the Hallway

When we purchased the home, the faux-brick laminate stretched through the hall into the kitchen. We replaced it with tile, painted the walls Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige (which is also in our kitchen and front door entry) and added base trim (that we still need to paint).

In effort to make it more functional for us, I added hooks, a bulletin board, and calendar.

What It Looks Like Today

Three months after we moved in and painted every wall and ceiling in the house, our furnace broke (in the dead of winter). The cold temperature caused the ceiling and wall paint to peel back in the kitchen and hall (as well as a few other areas in the house). Yeah, that wasn’t fun.

We lived with it for a year and a half and finally, a month before my wedding (what was I thinking?), I patched and repaired the peeling areas. I repainted the ceilings, but the walls have been on hold until we decided what we wanted to do.

Solution?

I hoped our hallway would function as a great entryway, but for most things, it’s just too narrow. Our shoes pile up, if too many items are on the hooks you can’t open the door or it makes it tough to pass through.

The space we lack in our hallway is really made up in our garage! We actually have this perfect little nook area that would function as a “entryway addition”. We’re using this little space in our garage pretty much like the previous owners were: the junk drawer of the house. Some days it looks better than others, but I’m hopeful that once we get some organization in place, we’ll use it more functionally.

You can’t really tell much of a difference, right? But, we see great potential in it! Thus begins our project to create a mudroom/entryway in our garage and tie it in with our hallway.

What We Need It To Do

I asked Mike what his essentials are as we rethink our entryway and he said, “a place for everything and everything in its place.” So, it’s gotta be organized.

We’re thinking of still using our hallway for purses, keys, our calendar and bulletin board. For the garage mudroom addition, we need it to be a space for shoes, hats, jackets, umbrellas and seasonal essentials.

We’re looking for something that’s more functional than our little hall and it wouldn’t hurt if it looked good too!

What’s Next?

In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing our process and progress. This isn’t a weekend project; slow and steady, friends! We want to invite you into the process with us.

Next up, our garage entryway inspiration! If you want to follow along with this series, you can subscribe to our email list, where you’ll receive the latest post right to your inbox! You can also follow along on Facebook, Instagram, or by searching #RHBentryway on either – where I’ll be sharing more of the in-the-moment processes and asking for your input.

Do you have an entryway? Or have you created an entry-like space? What’s been working for you? What’s not?