So you may have already seen our entryway in my Montessori Home Tour Video. That worked for a bit, but as the girls continue to grow, so do their jackets, shoes, and accessories. The set-up we had just wasn’t working anymore. Here’s what the “before” looked like:

Before, all shoes were kept in this basket system right inside the front door. My husband has one basket for his shoes, I have one for mine, and the girls shared one. But their feet just keep growing! They are quickly outgrowing that single basket for all of their shoes, and the crazy weather changes certainly don’t help. We have to have both sandals AND sneakers out for a majority of the year because it can go from 70 degrees one day to 45 the next.

As you can see, that little basket holding the girls winter hats and mittens was overflowing as well.

Before, we kept the girls jackets on the other side of the entryway — on two small hooks. But again, we have that changing weather problem. While I would like to be a bit more minimalist, it’s just not possible when it can rain and snow in the same week. Plus with the car seat rules [did you know it’s not safe for kids to wear bulky winter coats in car seats? Fleeces are recommended.] we had even MORE jacket options that needed to be available at all times. You can see the jackets just piled on top of each other on those hooks — so every time the girls needed to get one that wasn’t on top of the pile, they had to take all the rest off first and then put them back.

Our entryway was constantly a mess, and it took forever for the girls to find the appropriate shoes and outerwear they needed to get out the door.

Needless to say, I was delighted when Sprout Kids asked me to partner with them in launching their new Alba Montessori Children’s Wardrobe! While it is intended for bedroom use, I knew just where we would put it — in our entryway!

There are several different finished versions of the Alba Montessori Children’s Wardrobe available, but I chose the unfinished one so we could stain it ourselves to really personalize it. When it arrived, I was a bit intimidated when I opened the box and spread out all of the pieces. BUT I was surprised to discover that I could put it together (all by myself except for two small parts) in 15-20 minutes. So much easier than IKEA!

I set up the whole wardrobe to see what configuration would work best for us before sending it downstairs for my husband to stain. There are even hooks for umbrellas and Lila’s backpack — and we didn’t even use one of the hooks. See how much more compact this set-up is?!

We stained the Alba Montessori Children’s Wardrobe a “Merlot” color and now it looks perfect for our Montessori entryway! I love that we can fit both girls’ things in it all in one small space. For winter, we have it set up with baskets for mittens, hats, scarves, etc. In the summertime, those will go away and the baskets will contain things like sunscreen, bug spray, and sidewalk chalk! As the girls grow, we can easily adjust the shelves to fit their things.

This Montessori entryway is way more accessible for the whole family. I love that the girls are able to independently get themselves ready to go outside — and now I have more space over on the other side for my own shoes! :p Time to go shoe shopping!