Something like this looks good and is functional, is this the kind of style you're looking for? [houzz=https://www.houzz.com/photos/erie-custom-home-beach-style-entry-atlanta-phvw-vp~2273738]

You have such a large entrance area, i'm surprised there wasn't one put in originally.

Anyway, here are a couple of suggestions. I would do it on the left. I'm sure you will feel a lot calmer when all of the 'stuff' is put behind doors. Could you turn your carpet around the other way so when you enter the house - you step on the carpet. The last picture you could have done in white.

the first post's link is exactly what i have in my own home (minus the bench and increased the number of hooks to include a lower level for purses and back packs and a higher level for coats), i LOVE it, and it works great...although i do (almost daily) need to edit what is on the hooks to keep it from looking overwhelmed. the effort is minmal and it's a nice architectural detail that is easy and soooo very inexpensive to build-in, and it adds LOADS of charm. on the opposite side of the door, is where i'd add a seat, a storage piece of furniture and a great table lamp. a bureau/dresser is a great entry piece...it allows a surface for the lamp and a decorative item or 2 and gives TONS of great hide-away storage....a drawer each: keys, sunglasses, gloves, mail, etc. also add a runner, laid horizontally in front of the door to protect the floors and area rugs.

I am not so sure that the entry is that large. It looks like as soon as you open the door, you are in the living area....is this correct.......If so, can you post so that we can see the entire space.

Please an idea of the whole space will bring better solutions.

Thank you all for your suggestions! This is just a foyer, once you enter, there is about 10 feet and then a large table under the stairs where we throw things.

I love the idea of a closet, but I am worried that it will stick out too much and seem odd. BUT, then I think if we do fairly large built ins on the other side, it may look more symmetrical. In effect decreasing the space of the entire room if that makes sense.

Yes, Charlee, that is similar to some of things I've considered for the coat area.

Here are a couple of open ideas I had in mind.

I would add a ottoman or a foyer desk on the one side with a wall mirror decor. So that when u enter u have little room to get shoes off before getting into living room. And next to the fireplace the idea of bookshelf sounds good.

Although I love the idea of open storage, I never see them look as intended. If you have the room to install a closet or closed decorative storage I think the final outcome might be more successful.

Do you have room. You will want three feet in front of the stairs for access up and down. I think the best use of space would be to do floor to ceiling closets on each side of the door sidelights for the full width of the exterior wall to the corner on each side. Then the foyer will still be open. Why do you want the fireplace to be working if this is just a vestibule? This seems to be an area where furniture would not be welcome?

1. Possible stair converstion

2. IKEA shoe cabinet

3. Floor to ceiling custom install; holds a lot and is closed for sleek neat design.

4. Vertical space but more open in design.

Some possible pics for your area that are small but very efficient.

I agree with many of you who say a closet may be the best use. Since there is no structure to the room as it is now (just an open rectangle), how would putting a closet in look? In my mind it seems like it would protrude out awkwardly...

Can you post pictures from when you open the front door. What is the measurement from the front door to the rug. It appears that you can do a decent size closet where the chair is, but hard to determine without further pictures - which is why you've received a lot of open storage picture ideas.

Gotcha. I appreciate your input. I attempted to put more pictures up, but it didn't work, I will try again tonight.

My thoughts would be to first of all re-arrange the front door, so he chair is on the left in the corner with the little cabinet in front of the window, then have all the coat rack and baskets on the same side as the fireplace (which is a lovely feature btw). If you put a closet in, do it on the fireplace side, as the otherside I think would be too small. I think the large clock might look nice on the left side of the sideboard.

Thanks for your input Angel! I actually want to get rid of ALL the current furniture (even the clock) that is there. I'm considering a closet on the left of the door, and a bench and build-in bookshelves by the fireplace and to the right of the door. My question is, does anyone have any thoughts on whether to just AVOID a closet all together? and do open shelving for shoes and coats instead? And, any ideas for the bookshelf layout??

ok, now we know where we stand. We "suggestion makers" have to be so careful as to what we suggest, as some posters get upset when suggest doing things they didn't ask advice on.

I like your idea about book shelves and bench beside the fireplace, really think it would tie things into the fireplace. I personally would want a closet on the other side to "Hide" coats/shoes, but that's me. I'm a bit AC/DC and seeing stuff at the front door would drive me crazy.

This is a lovely old home with a beautiful fireplace entry. May I suggest a large, preferably mirrored, armoire circa 1930.

The armoire would be great at the entry where the chair is and the corner where the dresser is could be a wonderful little reception area/reading corner/pull your boots off place by the fire.

that is so cool! Yes! Angel this is in line with what i was looking for on that side of the room.

For the other side with the shoes and coats, I too think a closed in space would be ideal, but worry about the way it might look. Kind of odd, sticking out.. What do you think?

Also, this is my first time here, so I in no way wanted to come across unappreciative of your advice. Advise away!

Thanks!

No prob. How about trying an amoire as suggested above. People are practically giving these things away these days, and you could poss paint it.

I think it would depend on how deep the unit you find is. I'm thinking 18 to 24" deep.

Thanks for posting the extra pictures. I know you said, that you will make the fireplace functional - are you going to do this. Truthfully, if you do not, I'd remove it, because all design in the foyer must take it into consideration, because you also asked for symmetry....Your thoughts on this?

I would not put a closet on the left. I think it crowds the traffic path to/from the stairs.

Fireplace?- yes, I do want to make it functional. there is an exact same version on the other side of the wall, which is our living room, so we hope to do a "double" see through fire place which would warm both rooms. Likely a gas insert.

Armoire- I love how you added that picture in! I think adding furniture will make the room feel cluttered. We have waited a while to do this project, so while we don't want to spend a ton, we are wiling to make a good investment. With some sort of built-ins, my hope is to keep the molding from the fireplace and baseboards, to make the room feel cohesive and maybe like the units were there all along...

Closet?- yes, I worry too that it will crowd things. but I want it :).

This is kind of what I had in mind on the LEFt of the door for shoes, etc. See how it seems to part of the house? my hope was though that I could find something that would allow me to have doors, or even just a large closet to keep it less messy on the outside, but I do worry it would feel closed in.

Maybe something like this??

Now to the RIGHt of the door, by the fireplace, I envision something like this:

I can't really figure out the symmetry. But incorporating some sort of shelving, but keeping it open by having a bench. My husband thinks the bench isn't necessary since we don't have a window there. But something about keeping the space open and not just a row of shelving is appealing to me. What are your thoughts??

I wonder if I should post another thread, but I also am curious about the bookcases themselves. I've love how that one picture above is a traidtional/rustic kind of color. Since we have lots of different wood colors going on already in the room, and the rest of the house, the trim is white, I wonder if doing a color for the "built ins" would be best. I was thinking white initially, but that might be too bright. The wood color would be too dark. Maybe a deep, deep burnt orange? Or gray?

Hello - please do not post another thread - you will only get some of the same opinions and pictures as this one. Give us time(something wrong with yahoo on Sun), we will get to a solution. I was also thinking that you could do something like the lockers picture, but with a bench on the end. I will try to find pictures and send later.

Ok, thanks for your help.

Symmetry is going to be a challenge, because you have so much wall on the right side. Have you thought about a small vestibule. This would need to be built out - so you are creating a small space before you actually get into the foyer. You would walk through the front door and on both sides, you could create closets, this would leave you with wall space when you actually get into the foyer, where you could put shelves.

Yes, I agree Symmetry is tricky. I thought about the vestibule idea, and I like it. mY only concern is that there would then be very limited space from the stairs which you walk down and face that area to the left of the door with the coats and shoes.

My favorite suggestions for the left were Angel's or the first picture you posted yesterday. The open storage is less visually confining. And if you're carrying something or just swinging your arms it won't impede your movement the way storage with more height would. If you want closed storage, do it on the right and rethink the sitting area. That's really a personal decision of how you want the space to function.

I'd replace this console with a lidded bench for shoe storage and sitting down to remove shoes. I'd replace the rug with a more durable one for traffic coming in from outside. There really isn't room for much of anything in the coat rack corner, and since the door opens the way it does, I'd just add a big plant there where it would benefit from all the light.Here is your biggest and best corner to work with if you want to do an installation. The most period looking piece you could add there to hold items would be a hall tree. You could have one custom built to be twice as wide as a traditional one and hold more items. With a bench seat incorporated you can drop back packs inside. Or you can do a fun, unexpected and more creative hall "tree" to hold hanging items.

Personally, I would not want "mud room" type open storage with cubbies and hooks in my front entryway. Everyone would walk through the front door and plop their stuff down on the benches and it'd still end up looking just like it does now. Those things are never going to end up looking all perfectly neat and tidy, the way they do in pictures. Frankly, if you have a back door or an attached garage with a door to the house, I'd put the mud room there, and retrain my family to use that entrance. Then maybe put a smaller armoire or built in cabinet with doors by the front door (on the right) to hang up guest coats when you have visitors.

I really like DecoEnthusiast's idea. I think if you make that under-stair area into your bench and bookshelves, then you become free to make the wall to the left of the fireplace into a real closet, to contain the mess and have space for guests. The bench become a combination of shoe-changing (could have closed cubbies underneath) and fireplace-admiration space. Very cozy. Leave the space behind the door empty, or use it for the key-tossing and mail, with a smaller table or chest serving that purpose. If you put such a table against the window wall, you could even hang a mirror over it, for checking hair on the way out (and reflecting the nice entry room). Loving this idea totally!!

Hello - I have a few examples(not exactly what you'd build), that might give a better idea. The front door to my home opens right to the stairway, and I just measured it and it's 33 inches, and I am okay with that.

I would put a closet under the stairs and keep the entry area open. Can you get rid of the extraneous stuff so that you can enjoy that beautiful space?

You'd need to build these out to suit your space(vestibule style).

shirlpp- i really like this idea. I feel like it will give us the function we need without the look of chaos. I do wonder how it will actually look once it's completed..if it might look odd to walk through a vestibule of 2-3 feet in such a small house? I also wonder about the vestibule itself- so on either side of the door, essentially we will have closet space. do we put doors on that space? then we'd have 3 doors right together. If we keep it open, then we walk through likely a pile of coats, shoes book bags.

I like keeping that space below the stairs kind of open. That furniture piece is important to us, but also, if we put our shoes there, we'll see it right as we enter.

I wish we had a real mud room, or a different door we could use to access the house. but we don't. So, no option on finding a different entryway for the family.

I wish I could find more pictures of before/after to see what the space might look like with either built-ins or a vestibule.

Thank you for all your advice. Keep it coming! my head is spinning, but I love the ideas!

I just came across this picture. What do you think of adding a small landing a a few stairs so that our stairs turn out like the ones here, and then we have a closet door such as the one pictured where our coats are now? On the other side, the long wall and by the fire place....should we do open shelving or keep it closed with the vestibule idea?

I love the picture and your idea. So, this would eliminate seeing your console when you walk into the foyer. The vestibule that I was speaking of, you could have the closets facing one another or facing into the room, as the Green Gambrel Entry shows.