Tips for Finding the Perfect Entryway Furniture

SJ Interior Designs

I'm very excited to welcome a guest blogger today.  Angie is here with some amazing tips - and beautiful ideas - for decorating the perfect entryway.

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The entryway is usually the basis of your guests’ first impression regarding the interiors of your home. It also serves as an area to stash personal items and belongings that family members have as they come and go. These are reasons in themselves that warrant attention to decor for this functional room. Below are some tips to finding the perfect furniture for your abode’s entryway.

Consider the size of the entryway 

Before you go and decide to place that well-loved antique furniture in your entryway, it’s best to know the size of the room that you’re working with. It helps to plan out placements that can either make the room feel cozier than it already is or give off an impression of being larger than its actual size. This is equally important in selecting furniture. Smaller entryways should opt for less furniture and more multipurpose pieces.

My New Secret Weapon in the Kitchen!

This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Rubbermaid, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #RMDishRack  http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

So something happened a few weeks ago that hasn't happened in nine years of wedded bliss....we used our china.  Ya know, the thousands of dollars worth of plates, glasses, gravy boats, serving spoons, and silverware that has sat for display only since before our wedding in 2005....yeah, I finally broke it out.  Unfortunately, I also broke a glass...hence the whole one of the reasons I don't like to use it! 

Washi Tape Storage

So a few weeks back I majorly scored on Pick Your Plum...I got 10 rolls of Washi Tape for something like $13.  Totally cleaned up, right?!   Of course, now I have a Washi Tape storage problem.  That's a fine problem to have, if you ask me.   

Turn a Thrifted Cabinet into Laundry Room Storage (And Tips for Hanging a Cabinet)

After being stalled for a few weeks, my laundry room makeover is finally nearing completion.  The biggest project - and what had me at a standstill - was the cabinet.  I purchased the old kitchen cabinet at a thrift store for just $15 several weeks ago.

I cleaned it up and peeled off as much of the nasty shelving paper as possible. 

DIY Laundry Drying Rack (Wall Mount from Floor Standing)

Many a days I'm asked "Oh that's cool...where did you get that idea? Pinterest?" Yeah yeah yeah, I got it inspired from Pinterest, okay...what's it to ya?  But I got news for you today...I didn't get this DIY drying rack idea one from Pinterest.  No ma'am!  I actually had a moment of pure genius last week and thought this one up all.by.myself. 

If you've been following recently, you know I'm in the midst of making over my laundry room.  I'm on a tight budget and working in an even tighter space.  One of the items on my 'must have' list was a wall mounted drying rack.  With a $100 budget I was definitely going to DIY it, I just had to figure out how.

In our old house we had an actual laundry 'room'.  It wasn't pretty, but at least there was room for a foldable floor standing drying rack.  Our current laundry closet is extremely limited on space and I'm forced to hang all of my unmetionables all over the door knobs on the second floor.   Anyway, we've been storing that foldable laundry rack for years and the other day it caught my eye...it almost had a little glow around it like "TAKE ME!!! I AM THE ANSWER TO YOUR DRYING PROBLEMS".  And so...I did.

Easy Way to Digitally Save Kids' Art / School Projects

With kids come mounds of toys and piles of paper.  The art projects can stack up fast.  I don't like throwing my kiddos' precious masterpieces away, but the bins of arts and crafts and scribbles are out of control already and my oldest is only in kindergarten!  Yikes!

Last week I shared a fun way to display some of those kids art projects and today I wanted to share a little mommy hack that saves me tons of space without the guilt of tossing all.those.papers.

A few months ago I heard about this free app called ArtKive (don't you love the play on words?).  I've been using it recently and let me tell you it's a life (and counter) saver.

No longer do I have a pile of papers from my daughter's school folder stacked neatly on the edge of my counter.   Instead, I go through her school folder and snap digital photos of pictures she's drawn or handwriting practice with my camera phone.  You can do this directly through the Artkive app or you can take the pictures with the camera phone and then send them to Artkive later to file and add captions.

HELP!! My Laundry Closet Needs a Makeover

Perhaps it's because I've been seeing the same four walls of my house for too many consecutive days this winter...that doing laundry actually feels like a retreat most days.  It's five or ten minutes that I can hide upstairs alone when no one is asking me for a drink or to find their Batman (no the other one) or calling from the toilet that "Mommy, there's a problem" only to find out the 'problem' is that he can't get his superhero underwear (oh sorry, mask) on his head without my help.  WHAT is going on!!???!!

Oh wait, I retreat upstairs to switch the laundry and I'm faced with this and it's like WHAM BAM thank you MA'AM this is no haven this is an ugly, inefficient, and scary small laundry room closet. 

Dresser Drawer to Storage Box {Easy DIY Project}

Oh boy I am so excited to share this one with you...it turned out way better than I could have anticipated and had I known what the end result would look like I wouldn't have dragged my feet on this project for so long.  It was literally months in the making...but really it took me all of about 2 (kid-free) hours to complete.

Thrifted Vintage Glass Jars to Canisters with DIY Labels

If you follow us on Instagram you know that I was pretty ecstatic last week about my thrift store find.  It's not too often you find three matching anything at Goodwill.  But I did!  I scored three of these large glass mason-like jars.  They were in perfectly good condition - aside from needing a good cleaning.  There were no chips or cracks and the closures all worked perfectly.