Drop Zone

Now that Ollie and Rhett are both in school and the weather is cooling, I'm finding the backpacks/shoes/coats mess a bit unbearable. Our house has no mudroom nor garage, so when you enter the front door, well, you're in the family room. We have a box where shoes are supposed to be deposited. We have a coat closet, but really, the kids can't reach to hang up clothes there. We also have buckets in that same closet where kids are supposed to put hats and gloves, but let's be honest: they never make it that far until I ask nicely, or not-so-nicely. Basically everything gets dropped right at the door. Not awesome.

My so-smart sister-in-law (who has such a nice mudroom/drop zone, lucky her) suggested making the backdoor (the one that enters the playroom) our main door. We could create some sort of "lockers" for the kids to put their things.

So there you have it: our two options. Now you get have to vote. Here are some examples and pros and cons of each.

Front Door:
We'd need to add/create something like this:


or this:


or this:

Pro: The pergo floors in that room are better suited for Maryland's wet climate.
Con: All of that mess would be in our main room, probably making me crazy.
Con: We'd have to move/take down what's already there, and I like what's already there.

Back Door:
We could go with something simple, like the first picture (but would include a second hook for coats and storage underneath for shoes and gloves and probably exclude the large corkboards):


or create something more elaborate like this:

Pro: As the boys know their letters (well, Ollie is getting there), taking down what we have on the designated wall is no problem and probably, timely.
Con: The carpeted floors will get destroyed.
Con: We'd have to move around some stuff to make room.

So what do you think? What do you do in your house, because maybe that would work for me? Rule: If you read this, you must comment. This policy will be strictly enforced by unknown methods.