Rental House Tour: Small Entryway

While I was growing up in Montana, my mom had a very specific house rule. We were to wear shoes at all times.

If we got a sliver from sliding on the floors in our closets:

“You should have been wearing your shoes!”

If we stubbed our toe on the leg of a chair:

“You should have been wearing your shoes!”

Shoe wearing at all times was a thing.

I don’t know if this rule was prevalent in all American homes at that time, but it was in ours.

Then I grew up, fell in love, and married a Canadian.

In Canada (eh?), they take their shoes off at the door!

It absolutely blew this Montana farm girl’s mind! I thought only in Japan was that a custom.

Apparently, the designer of this house plan was also unaware of the shoes-off-at-the-door custom.

For, you see, this entryway has so much going for it:

It has a door that’s just one good paint color away from amazing,

and natural light spills in from that tall window above it.

There’s just one thing wrong with it:

It’s dimensions are the exact size of a postage stamp.

I don’t think it was really designed to do the job of storing shoes at the door. We experimented and experimented and tripped over piles of shoes in the process, til I found a solution:

You’ll never guess what this handy dandy stand is…

{Did you guess?}

It’s the narrow shelf hutches that belong to an old desk we got rid of.

Strange, I know. But it does the trick for now!:)

PS: If you’re looking for some more entryway inspiration, you can check out our previous entryway makeover. That tricky space nearly drove me crazy, but after 6 (yes SIX) different tries at a paint color, I finally found a look I loved.

PPS: My mom ended up loving our Canadian custom of taking our shoes off at the door. She wanted to try doing that new tradition in her home…I’m not sure if it ever worked out.;)