Let’s discuss some of the most utilized and underutilized spaces of a house: the foyer (or entryway) and the (isolated) basement, as well as the garage. Where I live in the American South, it’s uncommon to even have a basement, and of course not everyone has a garage. If you live in a smaller house or apartment, you may not have much of a foyer. (This discussion is still relevant, though, because I want you to treat any primary entryway in your home as a foyer space. The points below will still apply). But even if your home layout doesn’t match mine, consider your version of a basement as anywhere in your home where no one spends much time (or any time on a regular basis). This would be any underutilized space. However underutilized, though, these spaces are still relevant when you furnish a house.
Not only is my family an anomaly for even having a basement, but we are even rarer in that we use our garage to park our cars as opposed to storing a bunch of random stuff. Our primary car (the one that fits both car seats), however, stays parked in the driveway. That has only to do with the major inconvenience of using our garage as an entry/exit point as opposed to the front door/foyer where all of our shoes and stuff are (and where there is much more room for all of our shoes and stuff). That being said, the garage – which is basement-level – is a lesser-used space now that my spouse works remotely and doesn’t drive as much. So let’s cover these spaces here. Less glamourous than other parts of the house, sure, but they still serve a purpose – as we’ll find!
The Foyer (or How to Furnish a House Where It’s Most Utilized But Only as a Utilitarian Space)
In our house, as with most houses, the foyer is the first space you enter through the front door. And it is grand. A wasteful use of space, sure, with its two-story ceiling (the upper part could have been a more compact bedroom instead of the massive sprawl that ensues upstairs) that follows the open stairs up to the balcony hallway. An even more wasteful use of heating and air. But for those who admire grand entryways with a lunette window, ours is it. There isn’t much to do aesthetically since it’s a purely functional space, but it’s an important space where we transition from being at home to being elsewhere and vise versa (major feats for young children) so I had to strategize its arrangement.
Shoe Racks
Unlike most Americans, we are adamant about having shoes off in the house. This is important for keeping the floors not only clean but free of chemicals and junk stuck on shoes from pavement, public floors, or anywhere besides unadulterated earth. Soil itself is healthy but our red clay soil stains mightily. Still, most people in the city aren’t walking around in dirt or other earthen havens; they’re walking on paved surfaces and public floors. I don’t want that in my home, especially where my kids roll around on the floor and regularly drop food. (One benefit to keeping shoes out of the house is that when you drop food on the kitchen floor, it’s no big deal to eat it. Especially if you wipe the floor under the toddler table a couple times a day).
So we have three tall shoe racks in our foyer, plus a smaller one by the back door in the kitchen. Now, Carrie-inspired friends living uninspiring routines take note: I keep my fancier shoes that I don’t wear as often in my bedroom closet inside open shoe boxes or on decorative trays so they’re ‘on display’ while still keeping the soles contained on a designated surface. It wouldn’t make sense to keep these in an area for everyday use, like the foyer.
The foyer shoe racks instead house all of my husband’s shoes, my boys’ shoes, and my practical shoes that I wear regularly. The top shelf is for a lamp, things we use often like sunscreen or sunglasses, and bags we use every day. So even if you don’t have a shoes-off household, shoe racks are still great organizers for the shoes you aren’t presently wearing, and the shelves alone are useful for all kinds of things you grab on the go.
Seating
The stairs land in the foyer diagonally across from the front door, and because they turn 90° at a half-way landing, there is a nice little nook across from the front door for two of the three shoe racks and a chair to sit in while taking shoes on or off. Some people might furnish a house with longer benches next to a front door where multiple people can sit to remove shoes. In lieu of such a bench, our one chair (an extra from the dining table) works nicely and is conveniently located directly in front of the door. There’s usually one of us who’s okay to just hop around getting a shoe on or off while our five-year-old sits to fasten his own.
Sensible and Convenient Places for Everyday Valuables
Just right of the front door, across from the stairs, is a small table for things to bring in or take out (mail, travel mug, etc.). I originally thought this would be a great place to keep keys, what with two large drawers. But our #1 challenge is keeping the baby from getting into everything. He pulls a chair to the shoe rack to reach my purse on top and empty it. He takes the lamp off, unplugs the phone charger (and I wonder why it’s still at 20% after an hour), and presses my fob ‘lock’ button so the car honks repeatedly. We have a coat rack left of the door by the third shoe rack, where I can luckily hang keys out of his reach (for now).
Outfitting a house with a determined toddler has been one of our biggest challenges – one we’d still have had at our old house, possibly moreso given less space and fewer tall surfaces. Give me any house and I’ll turn it into a gem. Give me any house with a toddler in it and…good luck! I haven’t fully mastered that at my own house. Even in a massive house with plenty of tall surfaces, he simply scoots a chair over to stand on and reach everything (Nutribullet, kettle, toothpaste, vitamins, lighter). I’m just thrilled that during all of December he only broke one Christmas ornament.
The idea here is that you’ll want to keep your valuables somewhere safe yet accessible. For security purposes or personal preferences, you may opt to keep valuables (wallet, keys) in your bedroom. Use what methods work best for you. But if you want to keep these things near your front door for easy access, make sure you have somewhere that an intruder (or toddler!) won’t easily find.
Coat Closet
If you have a coat closet in addition to a coat rack, make the most of that space by storing larger things you grab on your way in or out of the house. Aside from the myriad of everybody’s jackets, we hang hats from a metal hook hung on the inside of the door. Reusable grocery bags line the shelf above, as well as miscellaneous household items like extra paper towels. The vacuum cleaner and Swiffer stand ready for daily use just inside the door, and lesser-used items like coolers sit on the floor in back. The coat closet’s also pretty, and here’s why.
I’d always dreamed of decorating a room in black and white. If I had an endless budget and time, I’d love a home with a multitude of rooms I could design in entirely different styles. But it’s smart to have some design continuity when you furnish a house. Otherwise it might look awkward to have, for instance, a beach-themed open kitchen that immediately segues into a mountain-themed living room. But for closed off spaces with standard-sized doorways, it’s easier to indulge all decorating dreams. I made our dining room black and white since that space is connected to the foyer and kitchen through standard door-sized openings. Its egress from the foyer is down a mini-hallway by the coat closet so there’s no clashing of styles (plus, I’ve hardly done anything with the foyer decoratively).
I was originally going to cover our dining room table in black-and-white striped peel-and-stick wallpaper but decided instead to use plain white paper with black-and-white geometric designed placemats. And the black-and-white striped wallpaper I so love went in the adjacent coat closet, giving it a chic transformation. Even though the walls are covered with coats and things, you can still spy them!
Powder Room (Downstairs Bathroom)
The powder room opens off of the hall leading from the foyer to the kitchen. It’s right across from the basement steps door. It’s the size of your standard small powder room with barely any room for much else. I added a makeshift table next to the sink to provide a place for visitors to set their mobile phones or purses. It’s simply an upturned white ceramic pot that nests atop a three-leg metal plant stand base. There are a couple of gold-painted metal seahorse decorations on the wall, and above the toilet is a framed koi fish knit artwork from a family friend. A small artificial plant is the one free-standing decoration in the powder room, for a simple touch.
The Basement (or How to Furnish a House with an Underutilized Space)
As I mentioned, the fact that we even have a basement is an anomaly in our region. But it’s even more so because it’s contained – it isn’t a walk-out basement or part of a split-level. There are no windows or access to the outside. It’s on the same level as the garage, but it’s closed off from the garage itself by the basement stairs landing. And because there are no windows, it’s naturally my least favourite space in the house. We therefore spend very little, if any, time there. (I typically only venture down to find more batteries to replace the never-ending battle of keeping toys functioning.)
The only place there could be a basement window is through the drywall between it and the garage. Looking into the garage would allow a marginal amount of natural light through the small garage door windows (which face north). If we stay in this house, I would want a window installed there even though it seems silly looking into the garage. Even the small amount of natural light would give it a homier feel.
The original plan was for the basement to be a guest suite with a bed against the back wall that faces the garage (where an upper window could go). We’ve shelved that idea for now since we’re reluctant to further furnish a house we may leave. Still, its comfortable seating makes the basement a viable ‘hangout space’ (albeit rarely used as such). There’s a large armchair and ottoman of unfortunate colours left by the previous owners, plus our brown couch from the old house. This couch was passed down by family and while it’s quite comfortable, it’s unattractive (that’s why it’s in the basement). Still, it sleeps very comfortably and would nicely complete the proposed guest suite.
Basement Furnishings
Even though we don’t spend much time in the basement, I still want it to be attractive and have as happy a feel as possible. So there are a couple of end tables with older trinkets and keepsakes I’ve had for decades but don’t necessarily want to display in our main living space. They help to create a fun, well-traveled sort of aesthetic that lends to a ‘basement adventure.’ I’ve also decorated the wall with a few such decorations to keep with that theme.
Architecturally, the basement is a space that’s great for older kids who want some privacy, or for them to watch movies, play games, listen to music, etc. We just aren’t in that life stage yet. We don’t want our young kids playing separately from where we can see and hear them. But on occasion, my husband will take one or both boys down to play with toys there while he practices guitar. So I like that the space still gets ‘lived in’ sometimes.
An Underutilized But No Less Useful Space: Storage, Nostalgia, and Secondary Décor
In addition to the smaller tables, there’s an old bookcase storing things like games, toys, photos, and other older decorative trinkets on the higher shelves. There is also a utilitarian brown cabinet (the one I covered in shiplap peel-and-stick wallpaper at the old house) which we frequently visit for things practical items batteries, lightbulbs, tape, extension cords, etc. And there’s a regularly increasing amount of ‘overflow’ toys (the vast majority of which have been second-hand gifted) that I’ve evicted from the living rooms either because I get tired of tripping over them or they make way too much noise.
So even though we don’t spend a lot of time in the basement (lack of natural light’s to blame for that, as well as simply being out of the way from everything else we do like eat and sleep), it’s important to me that it’s still a pleasant place. (When you furnish a house, remember that no home should ever have any unpleasant space). Our basement currently serves primarily as an unorganized toy overflow; yet it has a cheerful feel with plenty of seashells and decorations from Australia, Costa Rica, and trinkets from Russia, Germany, and other places. Its occasional use for guitar and playtime helps keep it from feeling too neglected. I go in there frequently enough, if briefly, for batteries and such. And of course, like most basements, it’s great for storage.
The Garage (or How to Furnish a House Area That’s Strictly Utilitarian and Somewhat Underutilized)
Even the garage needs attention! While our garage is fully a utilitarian space (we don’t hang out in it), it’s still important that it’s tidy and uncluttered. Believe me, after cleaning the garage, you notice. You feel lighter and happier being in there. We’ve got ours mostly organized so we should be able to find things (although, honestly, I’ve probably forgotten where many things are). I’ve even tacked up a bunch of old artwork on the walls that I like but not enough to want to look at inside the house every day. And while we park our main car outside in the driveway because, as I mentioned, it’s easier to get the boys in and out of the front door, my husband does use the garage when he needs to use his car.
Whether Highly Used or Underused, Furnish a House and Its Every Space with Intention
No matter the level of traffic a space receives, two things always matter when you furnish a house: function and aesthetic. While aesthetics matter less in places like the garage, those places are still happier when you put forth small efforts to beautify them (i.e. artwork or posters tacked to walls). And places with high foot traffic – such as a foyer or other frequently used entryway – should prioritize function but not to the extent that it’s unattractive. Whenever possible, arrange functional furniture in a way that looks pleasant and inviting. Strategize and consider the most convenient places for things you need; yet also remember simple decorations or other attractions to welcome. With shoe racks, go high. Include ambient lighting like a small lamp. Have a chair or other seating if possible. Even if you are tight on space, you can always maximize with what you have when you strategize!