An entryway is like a handshake: very telling of character. A limp, noncommittal handshake - the kind that send chills up my spine – tells me all I need to know about a person. Alternatively, a firm, confident shake gives off an all together different impression. The same goes for the entryway of a home. It’s the first impression room; the place where people begin to form an opinion of you and your style. 

Disorganized or worse yet, ignored entryways set a tone that discerning visitors notice. Granted, not everyone has the luxury of an entryway (San Francisco-sized apartments often don’t). For those of us that do, however, it’s important to put time into making the space your own. It doesn’t have to be loud – many beautiful examples are subtle and calming – but it should be as firmly about you as a good, strong handshake.   

As (un)luck would have it, our little apartment has an entryway. If given the choice, we would have used the space elsewhere (a larger living room for one) but we weren’t around when the building was built – so we’re stuck with an unusually wide entryway/hallway. 

 Storage space is an issue for us so the obvious choice was to put shelves in the entryway. We debated our options, had narrowed it down to industrial shelving, when a trip to our local thrift store gave us the perfect option: old school lockers. These suckers weren’t the most user friendly things to move in but the move-in is behind us and I think I’m in love. 

 Now that everything is in its place, there are some obvious things I need to do to make this space our own: 

 First, the lockers need treatment. I’m not sure what that means exactly, but I don’t think I want to leave them plain grey/beige. Maybe a large splash of color (a pattern of some sort) painted across the front? Or large font numbers painted on each bay? 

 Next, I’ll need to change the wall color. The white below the molding is fine but the beige/grey above it has to go. There is too much grey/beige going on here. 

 Last, I’ll need to clean and treat the wood we used as a top for the Go Shelf/Landing Strip (BTW: how amazing is that thing? It’s an altar from an abandoned church) 

 Any other suggestions?

Related posts:

1. Apartment No. 9 Project
2. Apartment Hunt is Done and Done