There are parts of our home that feel totally finished, and then there are parts of our home that I wish would just decorate themselves.  The entryway is one of those areas.  I haven’t taken a lot of time to truly decorate it because there is always other spaces that I have found more fun to decorate.  But when it comes to the entryway, I just stand there, staring at the space, wondering what to do.  I was in desperate need of entryway home decorating ideas.

When we first moved into our home three years ago, we had nothing in the entryway or living room.  Then we moved the living room furniture from the sun room (now the play room) into the actual living room.  Because that is where this furniture should have been the entire time.  Then, we found an entryway table and I shared how we baby-proofed the table to the wall.  I hung the Liatorp wall/bridging shelving unit from our IKEA media center because the bridging shelf didn’t work in our living room.  We made a run to IKEA and found a great bench, but didn’t like the color.  So we painted and upholstered the Norden bench to turn it to create a comfy bench for our guests to use.

But there was no style to the space.  We just painted our front door, so it feels so inviting when you open our front door, but then you walk into a rather dull space.  I was using a few pillows I had from around the house and wasn’t loving anything that was hanging from the shelving unit.  The entryway table was boring and I didn’t love the mirror I bought.  So I decided to switch things up and try to spruce up the space.

I started with “shopping our home”.  I love doing this when I am in need of some change.  I grab any and all things that I can use to decorate.  I’ll grab books off of the shelves, pictures, candles, and any fun trinket I can find.  Then I start to place them in the space to see how it feels.  If I like how it looks, I’ll keep it in that space and keep trying to style around that item.  If it’s not working for me, then I clear the entire area and try again.

For the entryway, I need to keep things on the entryway table that I don’t really care if they get scratched or break because the kids love pulling things off of the table.  I try to keep candles and plants on the table for that reason.  The kids love to water the plants but they won’t play with them.  The candles, however, are their favorite toys.  They carry them around singing “happy birthday”.

I purchased the table from Home Goods because it was the perfect size for the space.  We had hung a mirror and some hooks above the table, but I really wasn’t loving the mirror.  And I hung some mason jars from the hooks, but was kind of thinking they needed to go as well.

So I took the Martha Stewart starburst mirror I had in our dining room and moved it to the entryway.  (I told you, I take everything from everywhere to spruce up a space!)  Then, I got some boxwood wreaths from Target to hang on the hooks.  Taking some galvanized signs, I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out vinyl letters and attach to the signs.

I had a basket that fit perfectly under the entryway table, so I just left the basket where it was.  But I changed up the blanket that I had in the basket.  Then I grabbed some black candle holder to place on the table.  And I always love having fresh flowers when visitors come to visit.

Once I was happy with the entryway table, I moved onto the bench and shelving.  Now, the shelving unit shelves are rather small.  Regular picture frames don’t fit, so finding things that fit into the shelves but don’t look funny can be tricky.  I have some colorful votives with candles that fit into the shelves perfectly.  Then, I grabbed my hokey pokey sign that I got when I was in Florida a while ago.  My go-to decorating tip for spaces that I just don’t know what else to do is use decorative baskets.  So I found two baskets that fit with the height of the space.

I made the “home” sign with the gold glitter using this tutorial I shared a while back.  I like to keep some of the hooks open so we can hang guests jackets and scarves.  But I did want to have a real mirror somewhere, since the starburst mirror isn’t the best for checking yourself as you walk out the door.  So I found a mirror with ribbon to hang from Michaels.

Then, I was playing with pillows until I found two that fit in the space once I redecorated.  So I keep a ton of pillows on our basement couch for when I want to switch out pillows.  Our basement couch looks like a mod-podge of pillows because there are so many random pillows that don’t go together, but it works really well when I need to switch up pillows and not looking to spend a ton of money.

Since I was on a roll, I decided to tackle the entryway closet.  It really isn’t that disorganized, but I needed to switch out jackets and coats for the correct season.  I put our fall jackets back in the closet, and pulled out our winter gear.  I always keep our closets color-coded, even if it is just a coat closet.  I start with the kids’ jackets, then my jackets, then my husbands’ jackets.  I also like to leave space in the front of the closet with a bunch of hangers to hang guests jackets, especially in the winter months.

I also have baskets with labels to hold winter hats, gloves, mittens, ski gear, and ear muffs.  They are similar to the bins I purchased for when I organized our mud room.  I made labels and attached them to the bins from Target using decorative brads.

I also have a spot to hang our dog’s sweaters.  I used a Command 3M hook to hook the sweaters to.  Then I took our boots out of the storage bins that they stay in during the spring and summer months.  I use boot bins from The Container Store to stack as it saves space and keeps my closets clean.

Now I feel ready for guests to come and visit as our entryway is a little more put together than it was.  I am loving how the space has turned from something rather dull to more inviting and more representative of our family.  Everything was either lying around our home, or purchased with intention for a specific purpose.  I’m hoping my entryway will inspire you to change-up some of your entryway decor by shopping your home and purchasing items with a specific intention to use in a specific place!