DIY Entry Way Ideas. Why Buy When You Can Make?

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I didn't realize how passionately I felt about entry ways until it came time to buy a home.

In the first few years of our marriage we lived in apartments. This is when I slowly began to notice the very wrong things happening when you walk in the front door.

In our first apartment whoever built and designed it had the forethought to put a teeny strip of linoleum right at the front door so you didn't have to walk right into the living room. So I did think anything of what an entryway could mean at this time.

In our second apartment no such luck. Not only did you walk right into the living room you also walked right on to carpet! This is where entryways started to bug me. I checked out a book from the library where the author showed how to build a little partition to separate your front door area from the living room space but I never took action. Incidentally the patch of carpet at the front door was the reason I finally gave in and purchased a [simpleazon-link asin=”B00009R66F” locale=”us”]carpet steam cleaner[/simpleazon-link].

Our third dwelling place was a new construction town home that we were renting at the time. The place may have been small but the builder really thought out the entry way. The door opened onto a small Pergo floor and there were windows to let in light on either side of the door. It was about 2-3 feet of Pergo and then carpet. A few more feet and you walked to the coat closet. There was also a nice side window that let in even more light. It was so nice and bright there that in the summer I put my seed starts in this little spot to give them a good head start.  I had a few other issues with that place but I loved and appreciated the entry way…that and the linen closet (another story for another time).

Then it was time to buy our first home. Actually pay money down and call it our own. Kind of hard for semi-nomads like us and boy did we hemm and hawww not really being ready to commit. We had a long list of must have's for our home with the entry way being number one on my list. Well maybe behind the neighborhood.

As we went from house to house finding the home for us the entry ways stood out like a sore thumb to me. There were plenty of homes where the entry way walked right into the living room. Right on the carpet and everything. I know not everyone finds this irritating but I did so that was a quick way for me to whittle down our look closer list.

There is a lot happening as you walk through the front door and having a place to debrief was very important to me.

It's about a year later and we have finally found our home and it has a nice entry way with a long hall giving you enough time to debrief and shed all outerwear. Even hang a coat in the closet before you enter the main living area.

A nice entryway that needs some nice touches.

Next up is to create that actual debriefing area.

My mother has created a nice art piece for this entryway space and we had it framed at the nearby craft store. In addition to that we've gone back and forth on what else might belong there.

As much as I like entry way units that have a place to sit, hooks to hold jackets and coats and more, we we do have a front closet so I don't need anything to hold coats and such. I would like to keep it to a minimum as far as what goes there. We've determined that the shoes are going in the garage and so we're down to a place for mail and keys.

This is where I started looking online and coming across great finds for the entryway

Like….

I really liked this entry way table from Pottery Barn. I imagined I could put our shoes in breathable baskets at the bottom where they would not take up so much room as most entry way benches or tables that devote the whole underneath to shoes.

But I don't have Pottery Barn budget so how to find something similar without the Pottery Barn price?

Well…

Jamie from That's My Letter made a darling version from plans over at Ana White. I SOOOOO wanted to do this but am completely clueless when it comes to DIY of this level. This might tempt me though to get a Jig Saw, a Kreg Jig and go for it. What do you think? ( I didn't know what all these tools were either until I discovered Ana White)

Next up I found this really snazzy table below from Icing on the Cake blog. They used an old door and made this very chic table. We actually have taken the doors off the closet in our homeschool room so this might be something we can do down the line for another room in the home. The cut outs on our door are different on the top than on the bottom so ours would look very much like a door but still I am very inspired by this project.

Then I found this repurposed dresser at TwoItYourself.com. Take out the drawers, some fancy clean up work where they used to be and voila! That's a great way to get that front entry console table without either too much money or too much work.

This easy DIY Entry Way Table at Bourne Southern for under $30 has me wanted to start sawing and nailing boards but one step at a time. One step at a time.

These are all beautiful and have me chomping at the bit to get some DIY in. I even got some practical advice from Caitlin over at Icing on the Cake blog (btw check out her planner printables if you get a chance. They are really nicely done).

But since my DIY skills are at the very beginning I've been a little afraid to tackle something so up front and center in our home until I've had a chance to get my feet wet. I even purchased the latest Ultimate DIY eBook Bundle to help me with painting furniture and repurposing some other things around the house.

So this is our plan. We've opted to do some repurposing with a small piece of furniture that I was at a loss what to do with rather than building from scratch.

I have a small secretary's desk that I initially purchased as a desk for myself. It was only $50 to begin with so if I end up destroying I won't be too upset, just a little. My plan is to sand it down and then either stain it darker or color it black (or stain it lighter).

I've been reading [simpleazon-link asin=”B00MDO69G0″ locale=”us”]The Lazy Girls Guide to Furniture Painting[/simpleazon-link] to get some practical tips for making it easy. She insists that The Lazy Girls Guide to Furniture Painting is NOT a how to paint furniture ebook rather than a how to do it well ebook but in reading all the tips in how to choose good tools, what tool does what, how to care for your tools (ubber important), how to prep your pieces, how to distress, how to antique, and how to finish your piece I pretty much think it is a “how to” ebook and I intend to use it this way as the information is right on target for a newbie furniture painter such as myself. ([simpleazon-link asin=”B00MDO69G0″ locale=”us”]The Lazy Girls Guide to Furniture Painting[/simpleazon-link])

So you can see the desk in the above pictures and as I read up and study up (and take deep breaths) on painting and staining furniture hopefully it will become a lovely piece of furniture in our front entryway.

Now I still need little chair or bench there but it's a start.

What does your entryway look like?