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September 07, 2007
Back Door Blues
We were interviewed by the Austin-American Statesman today and, while cleaning up and getting ready, I realized how much of our home is still technically unfinished. It might not be obvious to everyone that visits, but there is still so much left to do!
When we originally planned the house, we knew we wanted the driveway to extend into the backyard. We planned to build a 50's style carport (check out the I Dream of Carport post for more details) which would extend to cover the back entry to the home, and we figured this would become the main entry and exit point.
It took us six months after moving in to get the new driveway, and we still don't have a carport. Instead, we have a boat and two unsheltered entrances, and we usually park in the front and enter and exit through the front door.
There are so many problems with this setup that I have trouble keeping them all straight. For one thing, we don't really have any landscaping between the front driveway and the front door, so we find ourselves walking through mud during wet weather (and we've had a LOT of wet weather over the last few months). The front door doesn't have a covering either since the deck is still somewhat unfinished, so we drag the mud and the wetness inside when we enter. There isn't a lot of room inside the front door for loitering or unloading what with the stairs directly inside. And there is no organization other than the shoe bucket... and it is overflowing with shoes the kids have outgrown. Backpacks, purses, keys, mail, all end up haphazardly piled inside the front entrance and on the stairs. I don't suppose guests feel very welcome when they arrive.
This brings me to the point of this entry which is a plea for help! With winter fast approaching, the need for a new solution is imminent. It seems to me like we need to accomplish four major goals:
1. Use the back of the driveway for parking cars (this means we need to move the boat and install a remote-controlled gate opener).2. Stop tracking mud and wetness into the house (we will need a carport, too).
3. Create an organized space for the coats, shoes, bags, keys, phones, and mail (this means organizing the nook next to the back door).
4. Use the front entry for its intended purpose (and landscape in a friendly way so that no one has to walk through mud or pools of water or stand under a dripping deck while unlocking the front door).
These are enormous tasks. Have you been through any of this? Advice? I was having fun checking out Better Homes and Gardens article on "Do-It-All Entryways" and thinking about our stuff and what to do with it. I need the solutions to be (1) fast, (2) easy, and (3) inexpensive. Isn't that how it always is?
Posted by Christiane at September 7, 2007 11:42 AM