Everything You Need for Creating an Actually Good-Looking “Drop Zone”

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It’s Monday morning and you’re running late, cramming things into your bag while throwing your coat and shoes on. Are your keys in your tote? You feel around inside it blindly while looking around you to see if you can spot them on a nearby surface. Your finger touches the jagged edge of a key at the bottom of your bag, you sigh with relief. Sweating, and somehow out of breath, you rush out the door. If this sounds familiar, allow me to offer some relief: Your mornings don’t have to be this way if you have a drop zone.

While the concept of a "drop zone" has been around for a while, it’s gotten a new life on TikTok, where "home hacks" dominate the For You Page just as much as dance videos and makeup tutorials. What is a drop zone? A central place to store the important items you need to have with you when you walk out the door.

To get a better understanding of what makes a great drop zone, I talked to professional organizer Jamie Hord. She founded her company, Horderly, in 2015 and has organized thousands of homes since. Hord recommends keeping maintenance in mind as you design your space. "Invest in successful solutions that will realistically help you create new habits and easily maintain the space," she told me via email.

The first step is to think about how you move in and out of your space and take an inventory of what you need to store. The exact contents of a drop zone vary from home to home, but most people will want to store things like coats, shoes, keys, bags and bag "contents" (we’ll get to that later).

 A do-it-all cabinet 

Ikea’s IDASEN cabinet is meant for an office space, but it can also be the star of your drop zone. With two drawers and adjustable shelves, it should be able to house most if not all of your "dropped" items. It comes in two colors, classic Filing Cabinet Gray and a lovely soft green. Personally, I love the green. It’s an unexpected color that balances the utilitarian vibe of the cabinet.

As attractive as the outside of this cabinet is, the real magic happens inside. First, let’s remember it’s made of metal, so you can use magnetic clips or hooks to hold notes and keys inside the doors. If you’re sharing the storage space with someone else, Hord suggests creating a designated, labeled area for each person. Baskets and drawers are an easy way to do this. "If you aren't able to add custom drawers to your space, you can bring in modular drawers or use bins on shelves to act as drawers," she said, adding that these adjustable drawer dividers help add additional structure to drawer or bin space if you need it. In a designated bin situation, each member of your household keeps their "leaving the house" items in their own bin. Adjust the bin sizes based on how much they need to hold. You don’t have to get too fancy with the bins, either. These simple plastic ones will do just fine.

Make your surfaces functional

If you’re too tight on space to accommodate a cabinet, try a slim console table like this one from Room & Board. It’s available in a whopping 17 color options (I love the saffron!) and narrow enough to fit in tight spaces. Add a cute ceramic bowl for keys and, as a bonus, a wireless charger for your Airpods. You’ll thank me later.

Move seamlessly from purse to purse

The purse station is another trend I’ve seen on my TikTok feed. At its core, the purse station is a small bin that you dump the contents of your purse into, making it easier to switch to different bags throughout the week. To make this easier, you sort your purse items into pouches like these from Baggu. As a frequent purse rotator, I love the pouch system. I used to lose track of lip balms, keys, even my wallet as I quickly switched purses. The pouches prevent that and make me feel like I have my life together.

Maximize your vertical space

Wall and inside door space are valuable pieces of entryway real estate. Be careful with wall space, though, as it’s not immune from looking cluttered. An overflowing coat rack can add stress to a small space like an entryway. Try hanging just your daily coat and tote, not your entire closet. This rack of retractable hooks looks great, and the hooks tuck back into the rack when not in use. This gives you the ability to hang more coats when you need to (guest coats, not yours!) If you can’t be trusted with this power, get single hooks instead.

If you have usable inside-door space by your entry, The Container Store’s Elfa system is a must-have storage tool. The Elfa is sturdy and customizable with a ton of accessories. My favorite configuration is this mix of shoe holders and baskets, which can store up to eight pairs of shoes. I’m not one to tell you what to do in your own home but I will say this: You should take your shoes off when you come home.

Take it slow and make it pretty

The best thing you can do when designing a drop zone is to take it slow so that you can test what does and doesn’t work for you, and so you can find storage solutions that feel stylish. "Finding the right mix of functional and beauty is something people can struggle with when creating a space that they are happy with in a drop zone," Hord said. "You first want to think of how you need the space to function and then you can create the beauty around that by picking out the specific material or aesthetic that you want."

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