This is a pretty tough order to fill. I was going to say Japanese Tree Lilac (S. reticulata), but it has white flowers. You could try a Hawthorn, which is usually a tough little tree and drought tolerant. There's a couple of Crataegus laevigata cultivars ('Crimson Cloud' and 'Paul's Scarlet') that might work. Crimson Cloud is commonly offered in these parts, and is supposed to be more resistant to the foliar diseases Hawthorns are subject to. There's a mature Paul's Scarlet I drive by in Bayfield, WI, that's a show-stopper in flower. You could also try Amur Maple (Acer ginnala). The flowers are a pale yellow and unlike other Maples have a noticeable fragrance. They can develop a nice form and selections have been made for crimson colored samaras (very ornamental IMO) and fall color. I've read that this tree has become invasive in some areas, so might want to check on that for your area. Good luck with it. Bob

There are some nice Catalpa trees in the Portland metro area as well as Milwaukie. they are pretty, but you do have to re shape them every few years or the limbs sort of self prune from the weight of the leaves. They are really nice old trees and you can shape them to some extent. Be prepared to have to prune extensively every other year or so. The "Hazelnut" or Filbert, to this 3rd generation Oregonian has some draw backs as well. It is not a tree that makes a long standard trunk, then branches out, rather the crotch of the tree is naturally about 3 ft off the grond frequently. You may find some that are more to a taller standard, but they tend to limb out wide and low. this makes them good for a kids fort, or an orchard, but not tall and narrow, unless you can train up a "sucker" which will shoot up tall and straight off the base of the trunk. These are usually not seen as desirable, and removed, how ever, if one does "get away from you" they tend to be taller than the parent tree. these trees must be trimed, suckers cut, sprayed for bugs, unless you never intend to eat the nuts, but leave them all for the birds, and I am not sure if you can find anything in an organic for this. It is a beautifull tree, but I doubt its what you want. Elderberry trees that are nice, but so far the crab apple seems like it might be your best bet. you can get a dwarf, and that will help some.

I agree, the space is too small to try to store off-season coats, etc. Try to keep them elsewhere until you've proven they'll fit. Otherwise, you'll simply set yourself up for failure. It's a kind of deep space, and the stuff that's in the "deep" area will be hard to access. That *might* let you stash out=of-season stuff there, but again, I'd suggest you wait to see. I agree w/ Frankie that the responsitionability of the Command hooks is really useful. But I also find that they aren't that sturdy for heavy coats. I'm a fan of pegboard for places like this--fill the wall with it, up and down. Then you can put some strong pegs anywhere you want, and move them around. You can have lots of hooks of various sizes, and you can put bins, even small shelves, etc. I find, actually, that shoes store better higher up. Otherwise, you're bending over,a nd bending over. I stored my shoes at about hip level, back when I had a "mudroom cabinet," and I found it was really useful. It's counterintuitive, but follow me: You kick off your shoes, and you need to then put them somewhere, which means you need to bend over and pick them up. Then you move to the storage space, and bend over and put them in the floor storage. (bending twice) Now you go to put them on. you bend over to pick them up, then you bend over again to put them on. Store them at hip level or just below, and you have them out of the prime storage space (hip to chest), but you aren't bending over twice. Backpacks (esp. heavy ones) went on the floor--that saved us having to lift them up. Swing them off your shoulder, and put them down. Consider stapling fabric shoe pockets to the left wall for shoes; or, consider not having this be a shoes-storage place. Just outdoors stuff only (boots, etc.). Shoes should go somewhere else. Are you a shoes-off household? If not, then this should be the place where only the shoes you wear outdoors go. If you are, then consider having shoes go somewhere else anyway, just to save space there. As for sitting down--don't do a permanent bench. Get a Kik-Step stool to shove in under the coats. Then you can hook it out with your feet, and sit down to put shoes on if necessary. I don't think you have enough room for a bench, anyway. For the side of the washer, consider getting magnetic organizers to hold small stuff. There are magnetic storage bins sold for laundry organizing that could hold little-kid shoes, umbrellas, hats, mittens. and for office supplies Even school lockers. or hooks to hold stuff like umbrellas, mittens, hats. If you got a strong enough hook, you could even hang shoes or boots off them,a ctually. Here is a link that might be useful: Kik-Step stool--the world's greatest invention

My house was 170 years old and who knows when the closets were added but they were not deep enough for a regular hanger. I didn't want to use a petite hanger, especially on heavy winter coats. Front facing telescoping rods were fantastic. I never actually pulled them out because the closet was so shallow it was easy enough for me to reach in, even to get clothing towards the back. Here are a few examples of front facing rods: Wayfair Build It would make me sad to see in an old home with sliding doors. I would put double doors that swing out. Add a long shelf above where the blue line is. (Looks like there was a shelf in this area before.) Mount to the bottom of the shelf two side by side front facing telescoping clothing racks, or just one and have shelves next to it. With good shelf organizers, you can fit a ton into this closet. Imagine something like this yellow closet but with the hanging clothes facing front instead of sideways.