Bench and hooks instead of foyer closet?

15 years ago

Hi--We are in the planning stage of an arts-and-crafts style home in Wisconsin. We have three young kids (ages 3-8) and plan to stay in the house until the youngest drives off to college in a rusty 2006 Volvo (fingers crossed for both the kid and the Volvo).

What do you think about a bench and hooks at the front door instead of a foyer closet? Linked is an inspiration photo. Our floorplan is small and there is really no other place for a coat closet. We will have a big mudroom off the garage and nice closet space in the bedrooms upstairs for our off-season coats.

Our lifestyle is very casual. When we entertain, our friends automatically stoop and take off their (usually) snowy boots at the front door. They might hand me a dish to share while I talk and greet their kids--getting heavy coats on a hanger is a hassle. So I think a bench and hooks would work well for our lifestyle.

I wonder if there is a way to do it so it could be easily converted to a closet for resale? For instance, building it into a wall alcove the dimensions of a closet?

Many thanks, Liz

Here is a link that might be useful:

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bevangel_i_h8_h0uzz

15 years ago

I think the bench and pegs in your inspiration picture looks very charming and inviting and is such a great idea I think I may steal it!

When I think about it, I realize that when visiting friends I have NEVER once in my entire life opened the entry closet door to hang up my own coat! Opening a closet door in someone else's house would feel way too much like snooping. So if my host/hostess doesn't take my coat and hang it up for me, it inevitably winds up draped across the back of my chair.

And, if a guest arrives with a dish of food or a bottle of wine or flowers or anything like that, then the host/hostess winds up with full hands and can't very well juggle coats and hangers. Even if the host/hostess beat a hasty retreat to take the gift to the kitchen, the guests inevitably follow right behind. So taking coats and hanging them up in the entry closet it just too awkward in such situations. And, if you have several guests all arriving at once, standing there trying to hang up everybody's coat gets in the way of greetings as well.

Guess what we all really need is a butler who would ask in a most charming British accent, "Madam, sir, may I take your wraps please?" and then would hand those pesky coats and mittens and muddy boots to the downstairs maid who would take care of storing them away properly (but only after an under-servant had cleaned the mud off our guests boots and properly polished them). Meanwhile Jeeves would usher our now properly unwrapped guests into the best parlor where we would rise from out seat by the fire to greet them and accept their hostess gifts. LOL!

But, absent the butler, downstairs maid, and under-servant... visible coat-hooks and shelves where guest would feel comfortable hanging up their own coats and hats seems like a perfect solution! I know I'd would rather hang my jacket there than across the back of my chair - and, as a guest I'd be MUCH more likely to use the pegs than a closet.

As for clutter, if your family normally enter and exit your home via the garage door and mud-room, it seems to me like their coats, hats, boots, and mittens would wind up in the mud room. Only your guests' boots stuff should ever wind up in this area so it shouldn't ever get so cluttered that you would feel the need to hide the area behind a closet door.

Thanks so much for sharing your inspiration pic!

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Comments (9)

robin2007
15 years ago
I would like something similar to that inside my back door, that leads to the garage.

We are pretty casual too, but I wouldn't put the main "catch all" bench and hangers inside the front door. Especially if the are is small. Once you get a bunch of coats, snowsuits (we have 4 kids), boots, shoes etc gathering together, it seems like it would be in the way.

We have a laundry room right inside our back door. We have a big shelf with hooks on it. The kids hang their coats and snowsuits there. It is tile floor in there, so the water doesn't hurt. I would worry about putting wet boots and such on wood flooring, which is what we have in our front entry.

We have a front entry closet, but we don't use it for coats. It houses all of our electronic connections. When we have company, we either put their coats on the bed in one of the front bedrooms, or we toss them over the stair railing or the back of the sofa, or even hang them on the back of the kitchen chairs. We are casual like that.

Since you are planning on staying in the house for at least 20 years, give or take, I would focus on building it for what you want, and not worry so much about resale.
shelly_k
15 years ago
I agree not to worry too much about resale. I love the inspiration picture! I say go for it!

My dream would be to have the foyer and the mudroom separated by a wall containing a large walk in closet for coats. Then you can have a door on the foyer side and a door on the mudroom side to put coats. So this would be for overflow, but for everyday use when just a few people are over and using the foyer, you could have a bench and hooks.
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Min- Congrats on the lot...I think it's going to be a wonderful choice, for you and your family :) An informal entry is great, because it means it gets used...by everyone! I'm so glad you get to use your table. If that's the case, then I vote for making the 'dining room' the piano space, with bookcases and maybe a couple of comfy chairs in the corner, by the window. One thing about the entry...if you put the hooks by the door, everyone stops to take off their coat and you get a bottleneck at the doorway. Instead, I'd move the hooks down to the area between the den doors and the stairs. This way, everyone gets inside, before they stop to sit down or take off their coats. The bench idea is interesting...but I would put it opposite the hooks, towards the kitchen. Again, you don't want people stopping too soon and there would be more room to sit down and not block 'traffic'. Instead of having it open, I think I'd put a back to the bench and have the piano tucked behind it, against the wall to the kitchen. A piano should be against an inside wall, so that's where I would put it, instead of against the garage. Then, you could have chairs in the corner, by the window (against the garage and window walls) to sit down, read a book, listen to music, etc. It would also be a nice 'adult' space, when the kids get a little older :)
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Thank you for all of your suggestions! Gobruno-- I had thought of putting a door in my closet, but then I thought I would use alot of valuable space and I plan to use every inch! Also, I've had coat closets before in my foyers and no one ever uses them. But they do use hooks. And I don't mind an uncluttered foyer for a short time while visitors are there. So for me, hooks would be better. I like the idea of separating the spaces into a bench space and maybe a table or something in the part across from the stairs. It's such a long wall -- it almost seems like this is the best -- separate it. I wish I could see pictures -- I'm very visual. I've been looking for pics online, but have come up with nothing so far. Thanks again for your ideas! Marthaelena -- I attached the drawings of the elevations.
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Just an FYI for those of you who, like me, don't have a front entry closet. DH and I do host large parties regularly. The one time we had a party and the weather was cold and rainy, I put a free-standing garment rack in the office to provide a spot for guests to hang up their coats. With a large open-top plastic trash can to hold umbrellas, a mirror on the wall and the powder-room nearby... the office became an instant "cloak-room." And, no damp coats left laying across a bed. The garment rack I have is probably 20 years old and was originally purchased for use in the laundry room of our old house. It is solid metal and stood up well to decades of hanging up dozens of wet t-shirts every week to dry. When we moved, I decided to keep it. Takes about 3 minutes to pop it up and it stores away easily when I don't need it. I checked and it looks like a very similar model is still available. Here is a link that might be useful: garment rack
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This is really a random comment, but I'm currently loving having no window coverings. We do have custom blinds fit into every window, but we keep them pulled up almost all the time. There is no curtain to be found anywhere in my house. It was originally this way because my husband bought the house and lived in it alone before he met me, and he was not into decorating. But after I moved in and finally painted the builder white walls, I realized that I really loved the clean look. My windows are very similar to yours - 6 over 6 divided light, with white trim. (My trim might be very slightly wider than yours - hard to tell.) My instinct used to always be to put up curtains, but now I've moved away from that. As long as your trim is good, having no curtains results in a very clean look. You also don't have to worry about coordinating with furniture, wall color, etc., and about what length to use on windows that don't go all the way to the floor. And you get as much natural light as possible. If I were you I would actually remove those drapes. You've got a great clean look throughout the kitchen, without window coverings. If you need privacy, you could fit wooden blinds inside the windows. It's hard to tell exactly what color the walls in the living room area are - I think they are probably more the soft creamy yellow that it appears in the last photo, and not the pink/peach it appears in other photos. If it's the same as what is in the kitchen, then I think that color is actually very good. You might want possible want something slightly more taupe-y for the living room, but since it is open to the kitchen, you'll have to be careful about the color. I know, off-topic... it's just that I have been looking at a ton of real estate photos lately (might put our house on the market in a couple years, and I'm interested in what the market is like) and curtains always seem to ruin things. They seem to be the most taste-specific things and the things that most easily seem to ruin rooms. It seems like EVERYONE immediately puts up curtains, but they're often just messy and don't really do anything to enhance the room. Yours are actually pretty good - very pretty color - but they limit you a bit. The "correctness" of that length on windows that size is also debatable. I've read that you should make the drapes go to the floor, but I've also seen a supposed "egregious real estate photo" which was flagged specifically for having drapes fitted like that. BTW, would you keep that rug (which I really like)? Could you look closely at it and maybe pull out a color which doesn't immediately jump out at you, and use that on the wall? That would pull everything together. Just so you know, my furnishings are similar in color scheme to yours, and my walls are a similar yellowish, with one wall (which runs into the kitchen) being sort of a sage-y olive-y green. I don't know that I love the yellow, and the green is too dark to do on all the walls, but something in that family, just lighter, would work on all the walls. You might go for a light grey with an undertone of green.
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cefoster
15 years ago
I love it and I am doing a similar thing in our new home. We have a little closet to one side for hanging items. But to me, it is such a great use of space...whether guests or the family comes in the front door, they will (hopefully) place shoes and coats there. I love the idea and it makes the home so inviting!! Do it!!
niecieb
15 years ago
I love it! I think it goes perfect with a casual lifestyle. I would definitly do it.
phoggie
15 years ago
I would not like it at the front door, but we did something very similar in by the back door to the garage and love it.
graycern
15 years ago
I wouldn't like a bunch of coats hanging by the front door. The coat, mitten, boot mess is nicely hidden in a closet. What we did when our kids were little was put hooks inside the closet so they wouldn't have to mess with hangers.
trudymom
15 years ago
We did something similar at our front door, except we just have large wooden pegs on a board, and no alcove. (The pegs and wood came from an old barn we had, but you can get them at country stores, like at the site below above the wreath). We have a front porch with benches, so if it is nasty outside, people take off their shoes there, then come in and hang their coat up on the pegs. Our family enters through the garage and there is a mudroom with a closet and pegs on the wall there also, so most of the nasty things would be there. But I'm in Texas so I don't get too many coats. It works great for us and I would do it again.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pegrack
bulldog09
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for the input. Tile in the front foyer sounds like a good idea--I had initially voted for hardwood only. A friend of ours has a bench in the foyer on hardwood flooring. She has a small rug which is always filled with her own family's boots. I pile my wet or snowy boots on top of theirs and hope they don't fall off on the gorgeous floor.

Shelly k, I love the idea of a walk-in closet separating foyer and mudroom. Very flexible. Too bad it won't fit in our plan, but I'll put the idea in my long-term file.

trudymom, I like the peg rack at the site you linked. I think I will look for something in a craftsman style.

It seems like some people love the casual bench and hooks while others feel it is best to hide the clutter. I love the bench and hooks while my husband has some mixed feelings. I'll share your feedback. Thanks!

Bench and hooks instead of foyer closet?

bevangel_i_h8_h0uzz

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Bench and hooks instead of foyer closet?

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