Organization: Taming the Front Hall Fronteir
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Probably 95% of front halls have a single table, waist height, with a mirror or picture over it and perhaps one basket under it. This look is visually pleasing, but unfortunately it doesn't provide enough organizational wattage for all the items which cycle through a front hall: keys, papers, small outerwear, boots. So, the table ends up piled high, and the floor around the table becomes a drop spot.
A walk-in closet would be lovely, but not easily added after the fact. So, the key to organizing the front hall without forfeiting good design is linear feet. By this we mean adding more shelving, both high and low, to the front hall so the places that can hold items in transition multiply. The Container Store exists to sell you baskets for these shelves, so you don't have to see the mess of life and can preserve good "curb appeal" when you enter your home. If your design style is contemporary, one easy solution for hallway organization is the ubiquitous leaning shelf unit, with ever widening shelves. Room and Board has attractive ones like the one shown in the photo, but so does Staples on a budget.http://www.staples.com/Staples-Wire-Shelving-4-Shelves-36-x-18/product_810835?cmArea=SEARCH  Shelves can also be added to the wall above your beloved free-standing table, with the same baskets and books and pictures that you would use for the leaning shelves. One sets of shelves that we like are these from West Elm http://www.westelm.com/products/flat-bar-bookcase-g128/?pkey=cbookcases-storage-shelves Once the shelves are in place, some great baskets are these from Container Store http://www.containerstore.com/shop/storage/openBinsBaskets/naturalMaterials?productId=10029541&N=71225. Add them both to the shelves and floor, and you won't have that sense of dread when you turn the key in the front door! |
Why do we have front halls at all?
Our new apartment, built in 1960, has a mid-century generous entry gallery, nine feet wide and almost twenty feet long. Emory Roth, the lead architect, was evidently inspired by center hall Colonials with their gracious halls.
Those center halls create a sense of calm between the outside and inside worlds, and a bridge between the various functions of the house. It reminds me of Massachusetts, where every small town has two signs: "Entering Lenox" and "Leaving Lenox," for instance. Walking though the hall between the dining room and library makes it clear that dinner has ended and study time has started....
Yet, our gallery falls short of it calming and transitional purposes. Since the front door directly opens into the gallery, there is an abruptness stepping in from outside. And the gallery's scale is too big to feel like "the pause that refreshes" between rooms. At nine feet, the gallery feels like a space that doesn't know if it a big hallway or a narrow parlor. If the space feels confused, so will we!
Two ways to fix this: either narrow the space with built-in shelves to give the gallery a library vibe, or widen the gallery so it becomes the blank canvas space - a parlor with upholstered chairs, a dinner party with round tables, Thanksgiving for sixteen with one long table, a place to display materials for a fundraiser.
We are going for the second option - the gallery as swing space. By moving some closets, we can widen the area from nine to fourteen feet. And by adding a four foot wall on either side of the front door, we create a vestibule that adds a transitional moment between the public and private space -- and gives the gallery its own identity.
We don't think Emory would mind.
