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Before And After: Entryway!!

April 18, 2012

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Befores, afters, mood boards, plans, failures, wins. We’ve done a lot of projects, and they’re all here. 

We have a long-standing relationship with DIY, and love rolling our sleeves up and making it happen. 

Even when you don’t want to rip down a wall, you can make that space in your home better. Right now.

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First off, I just wanted to thank everyone for your concern yesterday–my nose is a little swollen and sore, but pain killers and your sweet comments are getting me through it.  I’m already cautiously laughing about it. 
Now onto the eye candy–our entryway solution.  Spoiler alert–it’s a lot better than my little bamboo shoe rack I found last week:
Behold:

Yee-haw.  Our “entryway” is more of an entry wall, but we still wanted something that would solve our shoe storage problem and when I discovered this Hemnes shoe cabinet at Ikea, I knew it would be perfect.  It really anchors the new mirror and it did what not even the prettiest shoe rack could do–HIDE our shoes while storing them in the pull out compartments:

Once I showed Greta what this new piece of furniture was for, she had a good time finding all the shoes scattered around and throwing them in.  Hopefully that means our floors will be free of shoe clutter at all times.

Another aspect of this shoe cabinet that has us sold, was the depth of it.  It’s only about 8.5″ from front to back.  Because our staircase leads right down to the front door with this entry wall directly to the right, any traditional-sized console in this space could make things feel cramped.

This left us ample walking room:
I still am on the lookout for a pretty dish for catching keys, but other than that, we are loving the clean look. And since everyone loves a before and after, here’s a look at where we started before the mini-revamp:

And after–with our new mirror and shoe cabinet in place:

Just for fun, I dug up the official before picture of the space showing how it looked when we first moved in:

And now:

Love it?  Hate it?  Can you believe we didn’t have to adjust the height of the mirror at all once we got the shoe cabinet together?!  What luck we have.

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What do you think?

  1. kelly says:

    so curious where you put your shoes in your new house now ;)

  2. Erin says:

    Have you found the hinges have worn over time? Ours is only 1 month old and the drawers are kicking out all the time. Did you come up with a good solution?

  3. domain says:

    I used to be able to find good info from
    your blog articles.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Hi Julia. Love your blog :) how many pairs of shoes can you fit in cabinet?

  5. Anonymous says:

    What size mirror is above the cabinet? Thanks!!

  6. Can I ask what color your wall paint is? I love it.

  7. Jessicam says:

    Beautiful!!

  8. It is so beautiful and slim! Im baffled all them shoes are in ‘er! I like how you still make it sound like its a surprise you went to IKEA and found something great for you home : )

  9. Alana says:

    Looks great! I have the Hemnes night stands and love those. Let us know how is holds up, I always worry about buying something from Ikea that will get a lot of “use and abuse” :)

  10. Jane Metcalf says:

    love how clean it looks. great improvement.

  11. Megan R says:

    The whole space is looking totally lovely and sophisticated. Everything has really come together.

  12. Kylie Jones says:

    LOVE IT! Stunning!

  13. i love it!!! what a transformation…and honestly, you don’t notice how much the bamboo rack didn’t fit the space until you see THIS perfection! from the front, i didn’t notice how thin it is, it’s perfect for the entrance-way!

  14. Kar says:

    Oh, it’s perfect!!! I have a similar entryway issue – not wanting to cramp the limited space – so this is sooo what I’m going to do! Now I just have to drive all the way to Utah to get to an Ikea, dang it. :)

  15. An Ikea trip is my idea of a good time!

  16. So funny! Welcome aboard, I’ll have to let Chris know.

  17. That before and after is UH-mazing! I’m loving that cabinet. It’s perfect to hide shoes and looks super chic under that mirror. Go girl.

  18. Willmoreb says:

    Love it! I’m totally laughing about your fake rock hide-a-key thing in the previous post too. You know they have ones that look like a fake pile of dog poop? Can you imagine a neighbor seeing you pick that thing up to find your keys? So funny!
    BTW I don’t know if I’ve commented on here before, but I graduated with Chris and I’ve been following your blog for a while. You guys are amazing!

  19. meaganbriggs3 says:

    WHY AM I JUST SEEING THIS ON MY FEED???? (grrr)

    Holy amazing. This is EXACTLY how I pictured it. I love that ikea shoe hider thing. My mother needs to invest in some of those because when we are ALL together, shoes pile up SO quickly. Oh my so great. The mirror is just amazing. What a gorgeous front room! It all flows and looks so lovely!!!!

  20. Rachel Danjkov says:

    love it, in fact may be replacement I end up with – having bought a lil bench seat with cloth drawers neither of my kids sit on it to put their shoes on and so it now takes up precious space in our main entrance to the house from our carport – now that I see we can also put mirrors or art above it too- I think its a winner!

  21. Gotta love tall baseboards! I hope it still fits when we upgrade ours. Didn’t even think about that.

  22. Mckae says:

    Looks great! I’ve got to get me one of those shoe racks. That is fabulous!

  23. Jessie McKinley says:

    Looove it. I’m totally jealous that you can make that work in your house! We got a Hemnes for our entryway but our base boards are so tall and thick that it didn’t work. I guess I shouldn’t complain…I love our beautiful molding but I was pretty bummed after we bought it, set it ALL up, and then realized that it wouldn’t work :)

  24. Thanks, Ainhoa! Bummer it didn’t work out for you.

  25. Hahahaha! Such a good call! I forgot to address that imperfection and didn’t even think of switching it out. Totally gonna.

  26. MissMegK says:

    I love this! I just saw those at IKEA a few weeks ago – and LOVE the slim design. And you can decorate the top of it! so much better than just a shoe rack.

  27. Jen says:

    Love the shoe cabinet – as an fyi, you could swap out that metal floor register for a flush wood one, which would really help (in my humble opinion) to keep the focus on your lovely entryway and not the Hemnes leg resting on the register.

  28. I’ve had my eye on that shoe cabinet from Ikea for a long time! I really wanted to buy it for our closet area in the master bedroom but it doesn’t fit by a couple of inches – so sad. It looks great in your entryway though.

  29. Cindy Medrano says:

    Love it! Looks perfect!!

  30. Suzanna says:

    Love it! It really pulls the space together and I love how well it hides the shoes – there are always shoes on the floor at my house…..

  31. Elisa says:

    Wahoo! I’m a total Hemnes convert. Love it.

  32. Ooh I love it!! The cabinet and mirror totally make your entry way seem twice as spacious – esp with the cabinet, because it looks like it’s receding into the wall :)

  33. Victoria Bradley says:

    This post was really inspiring for me. I love your go-with-your-gut design. When we move into our new house in July, I’m commissioning mood boards for every room. I especially love the style and subtlety of this new cubby.

  34. Olga@Stardust says:

    Seriously, there is no comparison with the before picture. And that shoe cabinet is what I’m craving about the past few days myself!
    Olga@Stardust-Decor&Style

  35. Victoria says:

    Just came over from your recent comment on Young House Love. I can’t believe how the shoe cabinet has made the mirror look so much better! Don’t get me wrong, it looked fine before but in the after photo it looks really expensive and somehow bigger. Excellent work!

  36. Christine says:

    I’m normally not a huge fan of the ikea shoe cabinet but I gotta say, it like it in your space. Love the over-sized mirror. It all works for me. ~Christine {Sweet Macedonia}

  37. Anonymous says:

    Looks perfect there! Nice find!

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