Home Tour....The Entryway/Laundry Room

 Many years ago, shortly after we moved into our house, I did a home tour, but as our family grew and changed, so has our house, and I thought it was time for an update.  Almost every room in our house has changed this past year!  Long gone are the days when we had three kids three and under that all napped at the same time, so I don't really ever have the whole house cleaned up at once.  This time around, I'll just take pictures of one or two rooms at a time.  :)

Up first is our entryway, which is also our laundry room.  We actually use our side door as our main door, simply because it makes more sense for us.

Welcome to our home!

This is what you see when you first come in the door.  And as a disclaimer...it's not usually this clean! ;) This room is one of the hardest to keep clean because it becomes the dumping ground...shoes and coats that don't get put away, things brought in from the car, library books waiting to go back, etc., this room has it all!  We make sure the shoes and coats are picked up every evening, and I usually give it a more thorough cleaning every week or so...

The laundry room is off to the left.  The hot water heater and chest freezer are here as well.  Look at all those flat surfaces just begging for clutter!  Ha! ;) 

Our large family can make it look like we are not minimalist...for example, that grey laundry hamper holds our rain boots.  The kids all have one pair, but times that by 7, and it's a lot of boots!  This is the best solution I've found for keeping them corralled.  Our vacuum lives in here, as well as some bulk kitchen storage.

The white bucket holds our dirty towels, which are often damp, and the brown basket is our clothes hamper.  I usually wash a load of each every day, and that keeps me on top of it.  The bags hanging on the wall hold our clothespins, baby carrier, winter gear (scarves and gloves), and plastic bag recycling, which I empty at a grocery store once a month.  The wooden shelf on the back wall is the home for my bulk kitchen storage (beans, rice, wheat, and oats, as well as canned and pantry goods, like pasta, cereal, crackers, onions and potatoes, etc.  I also keep my stock pot and glass jars there.  I don't have a pantry in the kitchen, so this kind of serves that purpose.

The other side of the room (to the right of the door) is our coat and shoe storage.  We have two hook racks, one on top for adult coats, diaper bag, etc., and one lower one for kid coats.  Everyone has a cubby for shoes, and the basket on the floor holds the kids' socks.

Through the french door is the kitchen, which will be next! :)