A long time ago I rented the top floor of a restored colonial house in the suburbs outside Boston. I loved opening the front door to a generous foyer that I shared with my downstairs neighbors. But that space needed a little furnishing, a little warmth. I wandered the antique shops in the area on the weekends, and eventually I found a little maple entry bench in a used furniture store, for the fine price of $15.
My instincts were right with that purchase. I was able to sit down to put on and take off my boots right inside the front door, and I had a place to drop a few grocery bags when I ferried them up the stairs.
Mine was not an original idea. Furniture stores, catalogs and websites have plenty of choices when you are looking for an entry bench. Foyers and mud rooms are natural places for an entry bench. What's the best choice for your home? You have many options.
My simple choice gave me a place to sit for a moment and a surface to place things I did not want on the floor. My entry bench was small, but it did what I needed it to do.
You can find an entry bench in almost any style you want. Are you looking for one with simple lines to complement a contemporary or Asian décor? A mission style bench or a bench with a simple slat construction would work well. Is your home traditional, with elegant draperies and classically upholstered furniture? You can find an upholstered entry bench, with a tufted seat and fringe trim. You can find an entry bench with backs and arms that coordinate with the furniture in your dining room.
Whose home couldn't use a little more storage? You can find an entry bench that provides temporary storage for the things you grab on your way out the door every day. If you are looking for more storage space, a full-size storage trunk with an upholstered seat can be a great place to put out-of-season gloves and hats, boxes of family photos, or gift wrap essentials.
An entry bench with cubbies below the seat provides easy-access storage and would serve a busy family well. Put some baskets in the cubbies, and you have a natural home to store toys at the end of the day, a logical place to put caps and baseball gloves, and a convenient spot to put the dog's leash for those quick walks when you get home from work.
Another practical entry bench has a built-in shoe organizer. Rather than wading through the pile of shoes that the family members have kicked off inside the back door, the shoe organizer lets you store them inside the cubbies. It's a neat solution to a messy situation.
A hall tree provides the same storage and function as an entry bench, but it gives you vertical storage space, too. The tall back to the hall tree is installed with hooks, making it easy to hang a sweater or a backpack. You can find an entry bench that is full-featured; they come with an umbrella stand, bins for outgoing mail, a mirror to take a last quick look before you leave the house, and even a power supply to provide a logical place to recharge your cell phone or MP3 player. Install a couple of hall trees inside your back door, and you've got a locker room!
Then again, sometimes less is more. My little maple entry bench? It still stands in my guest room, waiting to hold an overnight bag.
