When we moved into our home last year, one of the things I loved was the large entryway. Can you see the potential beauty?!

See it? (It’s okay; I don’t blame you if you can’t see past the moving mess on the floor.) 

In the picture above, my front door is on the left. My first idea was to find an old church pew and put it on the wall to the right. I thought it might make a good place to sit and remove/replace shoes upon entering and exiting.

So for many months, we had our shoe holder from Ikea against that wall. It looks like this Ikea shoe holder, only with a bench on top:

It worked so well for storing shoes, and I put a pillow on the top bench to make it look decorative. But it turns out, I learned something very important in this in-between stage of using what we had while on the quest to find a perfectly sized church pew. You know what I learned?

We never sat on the bench.
None of our guests used it to remove/replace their shoes.
And it became a dropzone for everything from art projects to homework to lunchboxes.

No bueno.

So, I thought to myself:
Why buy a nice-looking pew for people to sit on if we never sit on the bench we already have?

Time to regroup.

Back to the drawing board. What did I want for this entryway space?

To help decide, I turned to my all-time favorite decorating guru, The Nester, and her marvelously helpful book, The Cozy Minimalist Home.

As I write this, the book is sitting by my nightstand. I’ve already read it.
But it sits there because I keep referring to it.

I followed Nester’s plan: start by thinking about how this space can best serve my family and the people who gather here. My husband and I decided we didn’t need another place to store shoes or coats because we already had those needs taken care of with our coat closet and coat rack down the hallway. Since we didn’t need more storage, we could just focus on making the entryway into a lovely, welcoming place. We didn’t want lots of knickknacks, but we did want it to be personal and cozy.

Nester always encourages the use of rugs and lighting, so I thought about the space. Could it use a rug? Why yes, yes it could.

Rugs

I entertained many options. I brought home a patterned rug from Marshall’s and tried it out. But the pattern, while pretty and muted, felt like too much for me. So that helped me make a decision: I was now on a hunt for a non-patterned rug.

The space is an entryway and we live in New Hampshire. That means people will be coming in with snowy shoes for a good 6 months of the year. I love a good jute rug to hide lots of stains and stand up to shoe-wiping, so that factor helped me decide on a jute rug for this space. I love a good large-and-in-charge rug, so I went with this one in a 4×6 size. We love how it hides stains like a boss, but is also soft and thick under our feet!

Lighting

Next, I turned my attention to the lighting. I looked at my Pinterest boards to see what entryway lights I liked and kept seeing a theme: black, semi-rectangular chandeliers. It was tricky to find a light that didn’t hang too far down from our 8-foot ceilings. But I finally found this light which was exactly what I envisioned. It fits perfectly with enough space for the door to close and we were able to adjust the chain so that it won’t bonk people on the heads as they enter. (How’s that for a warm welcome?)

When we discovered we never sat on our bench, I started browsing for a wood table and found a perfectly sized one at Target.

God’s Kindness in Little Details

The big plant in the corner is just a sweet gift from God to me. It’s a little thing really, but I wanted a nice big plant for the entryway corner but decided to wait on purchasing one. A few days later, we had a friend over for dinner and he walked in holding this large plant! It was absolutely perfect for the corner and something only God knew I wanted! So I love seeing this plant—not only because it’s lovely but because it’s a lovely reminder of God’s kindness to me, even in little details. (here’s a similar one.)

This is what the table looks like at this very second. A bit of winter mixed in with other items.

The lanterns on the bottom shelf were in our wedding, so of course, they are incredibly special to both my husband and me! They’ve had to be hot glued here and there, but are still surviving, over 12 years later! (just like us, haha.)

My husband refers to our home as my canvas, and I think it’s a fairly accurate analogy. It’s been fun to work to make our house something that works well for us and a place we love.

And there you have it! An entryway refresh that works well for our family and guests!