Kitchen Entryway: Help!

This is the entryway off of our kitchen that goes into our garage. It's got some fantastic paneling and some really helpful railings. 

I really love it. 

No, I don't.

We actually have two entryways, the front door area that will eventually be a beautiful mudroom with slate floors and built in cubbies, but for now- we only have the means to work with this entryway. 

Pros: 

-It leads directly into our large, one car garage

-It's right off of our kitchen

-It has an ugly cabinet (can y'see it?) that looks much better without the doors on it that is great for storage

Cons:

-It has paneling

-It's not heated or insulated, so you can't really put too much stuff out here

-It's kinda small ( 7 x 3.5 feet)

-It has paneling

So we've decided to take baby steps with the house, and complete projects as time and money allow for them. Also, my favorite home blog points out that waiting a while before you tackle big projects is a smart idea. Living in a space for a bit allows you to really think out which changes you want to make and which ones are most important. This one is important for now so that we can have a place to put our shoes. Our bigger, fancier entryway can wait until we nail down the specifics (and the money!). 

But I digress.

Inspiration for the little garage entryway? I love this clean look, and I think it's pretty appropriate and fitting for our little space:

Ooooh, very fitting for our little wee lake house, dontcha think? (re: butterfly net, fishing pole, etc.)

So we've started by painting:

We haven't finished painting, but you get the idea. 

One coat of primer and a coat of soft white (leftover color from our kitchen cabinets) already makes it look a whole lot better. We're going to paint the exposed wood on the ceiling, so don't worry. 

But I'm kind of stuck.

I have this rug to add some color, but that's about it. 

Any ideas? Any pictures of your small entryways? I would really appreciate pictures. I would love, love, love to see what else is out there. I'm serious- PLEASE send me pictures! shegotmarried@live.com