House set up and Landing strip(s)

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House set up and Landing strip(s)

(12 posts) (7 voices)

Started 1 year ago by EmpressBren
Latest reply from jbeany
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EmpressBren
Member

So, my house is has a detached garage off the alley. This means that we come in through the back door. However, the alarm system and the mail box are near the front door. This means that the normal landing strip is anywhere throughout the house and generally ends up on the Dining Room table. I would like to figure out a better system but with the traffic pattern haven't been able to come up with a logical area to put keys and a mail organizer, etc.

Retraining the other occupant must be a somewhat organic process, I am still working on laundry hampers, some 10 years later. :)

The main floor is for all general purposes a straight shotgun style. Open floor plan.

Posted 1 year ago #
irishbell
Member

The first thing to decide is which door you're going to come in, every day. Whichever door it is, put a little table/bench there to land your stuff on. Possibly a set of hooks for keys etc. You could also make this a place to put your bag/briefcase, shoes etc.
If you don't have room, possibly a shelf/ledge that you can hang from a wall by the door.
Do you have a coat closet by either of the entryways? That might be a better place for your landing strip.
As far as training the other occupant, you can lead by example and see if that works.

Posted 1 year ago #
EmpressBren
Member

Irishbell, we come in the backdoor everyday, but we have to walk the length of the house very quickly to turn off the alarm (no stopping to put things on the landing strip). Also, by virtue of the fact that the street is out front, the mail is also out front so we also have to open that door to get the mail and would be crossing the house anyway, though admittedly, not in such a hurry.

Conversely, when we set the alarm in the morning (again the alarm is by the front door and we leave out the back) we have a good 2-3 minutes to grab our stuff and get out so we leave our things by the back door.

We do not have a coat closet (and no where to put one). Our current system is key hooks by the back door and a front entry table which does not get used as a landing strip but would like to try if it would work. The coat hooks are by the front door and really can't go anywhere else in the arrangement. I have a shoe bin behind the couch which nicely holds my high heels.

Leading by example hasn't worked for the past decade, but I keep trying. :)

Posted 1 year ago #
lucy1965
Member

EmpressBren, would it be possible to ask your alarm provider for a wireless remote key fob for the system? We have the same problem and two of them solved the issue of "scramble up very narrow twisty stairs without stepping on cats or breaking a leg to get to the front door and enter a code" (it wasn't possible to put a secondary keypad by the back door. Don't you just love old houses?).

Posted 1 year ago #
pkilmain
Member

Ah, that was my thought as well - a second keypad or a remote. Then you'd have time to leisurely walk to the front and deposit things on that table and hang up coats. It makes sense to use that table for things that are going to go out with you again in the morning.

It would seem to me that the mail need not be an immediate thing as soon as you come in the house so that once you had the other things attended to then the mail could be fetched and dealt with wherever you decide. We tend to sort ours on our freezer which is in the entryway by the coat closet (don't ask). But I have a trash container and a small box for unwanted catalogs (we recycle them) there so junk mail never goes any further. Then we each take our own mail to our desks.

Posted 1 year ago #
Rosa
Member

EmpressBren, we have a similar setup - detached alley garage, but the back door opens into the kitchen & there's an entryway in the front. There's no space in my kitchen for boots, hats, coats, or junk.

So the landing pad is by the front door - a coat rack, a space for shoes/bags, a mail sorting/recycling station, a key holder. It means there's sometimes stuff dropped by the front door (esp. if I am trying to keep the cat in, get the child in, and haul groceries or something on top of my usual bags & bike things) but I have a place to move it to when I tidy up later.

Posted 1 year ago #
trillie
Member

I think the most "logical area" is one where you have enough room to take of a bigger coat, or drop a purse and backback without occupying half the floor space, or where two people can put on their shoes at the same time. Everything else just comes down to PEEP -- a place for everything, and everything in its place. Just have a designated place for your keys etc. :o) Depending on whether it's possible to get a remote for your alarm, you could also try putting up wall hooks at both doors and just see which ones you tend to use more. Even if your keys end up on a hook at the back door, and your purse on a hook at the front door, it's okay, as long as they always end up there and you don't have to search for them :o)

Good luck, and let us know about the "after"! :o)

Posted 1 year ago #
irishbell
Member

it sounds like there is no "convenient" space, it sounds like you need to choose the biggest space,like trillie suggests, even if it is right in the middle of your hallway. Decide on the place, and make sure to use it everyday. If your "other" doesn't cooperate, all you can do is whatever you've been doing all these years!

Posted 1 year ago #
EmpressBren
Member

Thanks for making me feel less alone. I sometimes wonder if I was the only person whose renovator/builder had no concept of the actual use of the home.

The home keypad for the alarm is now old enough that it will not accept a keyfob and we would have to replace the main pad, a princely $300 charge. Not that I haven't thought about that.

I think you all are right about selecting the best spot based on space and not logical path and then making it work. I shall begin the transformation and post results when completed.

Posted 1 year ago #
Rosa
Member

well, my house old enough that the original workflow was, the ladies would come in the front door and the menfolk would stable the horse before coming in through the scullery/kitchen.

We just have to figure out how to occupy that space with our modern lives.

Posted 1 year ago #
trillie
Member

Another suggestion: Think backwards. Which door do you always use to leave the house? If you want to be able to leave your house quickly and spontaneously without running around first, it would make sense to have the landing strip closer to that door.

I used to keep my shoes in my bedroom which is 26 feet away from the door -- old building, long and narrow hallway. Now they're stored in my living room, the drawback is of course that they're not with the rest of the clothes, but it really gets me out the door in much less time :o)

Posted 1 year ago #
jbeany
Member

"Training" HA! I ended up with a peg rack, key holder, landing strip table and storage bench in the narrow entrance by the door, because it was apparently too difficult for the male mind to grasp the concept of opening the coat closet directly in front of our main entrance. In order to access the closet, you must close the front door and step to the side to swing open the other door. (More clueless builders at work here!)

As for hamper training - it's necessary to put an open hamper (Hamper lids are too complicated for men to work, just like on the toilet.) as close as possible to where the largest heap of clothes collects on the floor, regardless of things like fire escape routes and tripping issues..... :D

Posted 1 year ago #

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