By now you know that we live in a relatively small home, where we have had to create some multi-functional spaces in order to accommodate our 4 person family. The entry way is no exception. We don’t have one! We also don’t have a traditional front door, we have a sliding door. Is this something that I would love to change? Of course! Is it something that I’m going to change? Definitely not any time in the near future!

So, I have a back door as a front door, an open plan living and dining room (which includes our office space), no playroom and no entry way 🤷🏼‍♀️. Not a challenge at all! Hahaha 😂

I trawled through Pinterest to find ideas on how best to rectify this situation. At first I wanted to do something with some old antique doors. I mean, I love a good pair of chippy antique doors. That was until I saw how much those doors were going to cost us. I did not have the budget for that! So it was back to the drawing board for me. Luckily, while I was pondering my predicament, Hubs remembered that he still had some pallet wood left over from our bedroom feature wall that we could do something with – he is such a hero!

He started by building out a frame, added the pallet wood, and then mounted this to the wall (I can do a detailed write up with photos if you would like – just let me know!) I then painted it out in Rustoleum’s linen white chalked paint.

He also added these gorgeous hooks I scored on sale from Takealot?! I even used some credit that I had from returning items earlier in the year 🙂 This means that it technically didn’t cost me anything! Right?! 😁

As I mentioned earlier, we don’t have a playroom either and, while the kids have toys in their rooms, they prefer to play in the living room where we hang out as a family. This means that we invariably have piles of toys lying all over the place. To try and curb this a bit, Hubs picked up a wooden chest from… Mambos plastics! It’s just big enough to provide a place to sit and put your shoes on (or take them off) and to store a decent amount of toys.

To finish the space off, I added the rocking chair that used to be in my daughter’s nursery; from when she was young enough to have a nursery! Seems like yesterday…

Finally, I added a few decorative touches, to pretty the space up.

And that’s it, we created an entry way; extra seating; and storage space in our living room. All this by just by using a bit of left over wood, some hooks, a bit of paint and a wooden chest. It works well for us!

Admittedly, the space usually looks a bit more like this… but it still works!

I also love this spot for styling through the year! It gives a clean, crisp background and is one of the few places in the downstairs of our home that catches some good natural lighting.

I hope that this was helpful and gave you some ideas of how to create an entry way in your own space. If you have any thoughts or questions, please let me know! I would love to chat 🙂