{pretty, happy, funny, real}

This is actually a very late entry for a linky party from a couple weeks ago.  I was so inspired by all the other bloggers who entered before and after photos of their entryway clean-ups that I decided to tackle mine. 

Auntie Leila at Like Mother, Like Daughter encourages the 'reasonably clean' approach to housekeeping, not the 'let's just give up' attitude I sometimes take when overwhelmed by certain projects.  The catastrophe at my back door definitely fell into the category of 'overwhelmingly out of control.'

At our house, it's much more convenient to enter through the garage than the front door.  As a result, our front door doesn't get much traffic, looks pretty good, and doesn't cause me much consternation.  Most of the time, folks enter through the garage.

{Real}
Since the garage door is, after all, in a garage, I hadn't given much thought to the appearance of things until Auntie Leila encouraged her readers to take a look from a guest's point of view.  Yikes.  We have a brand new house which has no grass (yet), so all spring and summer long, mud-caked boots, shoes and sandals have been accumulating in a heap at the back door.  It was not only an eyesore but also a safety hazard.  On more than one occasion, someone has tripped over the mountain of dirty, messy footwear hovering around that entrance.  Mid-project, I remembered to take a 'before' photo, so by then I had already moved the shoe pile outside and recruited some help.  I had also removed the filthy rugs.  Just to the left of the door in the picture above was the scene of the horrendous mess.  Here are my helpers:

They were put on the task of knocking out the dried mud clumps and washing up the shoes.  The little guy on the tricycle was shuttling the clean pairs back into the garage.  Helping is always a {pretty} sight, I think. 

Also problematic at this entrance was a huge tangle of bicycles and riding toys.  When returning said vehicles after use, everybody (myself included) has been shoving them in wherever able.  It was becoming increasingly difficult to find a place for everything due to the general mayhem.  I did manage to catch a shot of this disaster before I moved everything out:

To add insult to injury (our poor garage), when we got a new kitty a couple months ago, her litter box, food, bed, etc., got deposited right in the middle of the floor,because I couldn't find my way to the wall.  It's hard to see, but I cleared out a space next to the freezer to place all of Susan's (the cat's) things in order against the wall.  Much better. 

Here is the end result: tidied up shoes, clean rugs and floor, and a picture on the wall.  Next I need plastic storage for the cat food. 

Riding stuff has been lined up.  It's amazing how much more floor space is now available.  We can actually walk in there and get to the garbage cans with greatly reduced risk of injury. 

I think these 2 are pretty {happy} with the results, and with the popsicles they're eating.  Many thanks to the Ladies at Like Mother, Like Daughter for hosting this link up!!  It's been a great help to me.  The {pretty, happy, funny, real} project is also a highlight each week.  God bless you!