Center the door. Other than that, a coat rack (think hat rack) might be nice.

Years ago, on business, I had a meeting with a billionaire at his home. He greeted me himself, hung my coat up in the hall closet and put my overshoes in their too. A neat, precise and unpretentious tycoon indeed.

On the other hand, my 10 and 12 year old sons kick their shoes against the wall and drop their coats on the floor.

Most of the rest of us, I venture, fall somewhere between those extremes.

We don't have a front hall closet and it makes me nuts! We bought a large and pretty armoire to use instead (installed a bar for hangers and use the two lower drawers for hats and gloves.) However it's not as practical as a closet. Nearly every house around us (new or old) has a front closet and they are used for guest coats, out of season coats, vacuum cleaners, umbrellas, etc etc. Of course we have cold winters so everyone has multiple coats (dress coats, ski jackets, fleece coats, rain coats...) When people go to parties, someone (host or helper) will point out the front closet and no one has a problem hanging up or retrieving their own coat. I feel less intrusive opening a hall closet that someone pointed out, than throwing my coat on someone's bed or on a couch in an otherwise tidy room. (And if a guest has a fur coat and the host has a dog, the guest might be more comfortable hanging the coat than leaving it out.)

My parents' front hall closet is big enough that they can also store the card tables and chairs in there for use at parties. It's very handy.

One of my neighbors in a newer, beautiful home has a coat rack in her front hall, in front of one of the sidelight windows. It always looks a bit messy to me, but is better than nothing.

So my perspective as a have-not is that I think it would be great to have one!

I agree with chicagoans. In addition to her/his? comments, I love having a place to put the 3 dining table leaves, and that's where I keep the wrapping paper, since we wrap presents on the DR table. I also store a table extender in this closet for when I have lots of people over and need to use a smaller table for sit down meals.

Anne

I agree with chicagoans. In addition to her/his? comments, I love having a place to put the 3 dining table leaves, and that's where I keep the wrapping paper, since we wrap presents on the DR table. I also store a table extender in this closet for when I have lots of people over and need to use a smaller table for sit down meals.

Anne

Here in the South, we don't have one and have never missed it even when we used to entertain more formally than we do now. When it was cold and guests wore coats, they went on the front (guest) bedroom bed. Because the door stayed shut, the dogs were not a problem.

Oddly, shmeal, at our ski house, we faced a similar situation to yours, trading off space elsewhere for a coat closet. We decided to lose the closet even though it's coat weather there almost year round with cool summer evenings. The house has a foyer that opens to the front door, but also opens to the garage , so no matter how you enter the house, you enter through the foyer. The builder had installed two nice, heavy duty coat racks, with four hooks each on one wall of the foyer either side of the door into the living room, but had also built a coat closet that protruded into the living room. It really took up unnecessary space so we had the closet removed. The trade-off worked well for us. We have never missed the closet and everyone uses the coat hooks in the foyer. (DD, who lives there year round with her DH, does use the closet in the downstairs study for her coat 'collection'). I will say that the builder who built our house as a spec house had a thing for closets and but for that one, I'm glad he did!

I think it is necessary.

We use ours plenty... and our guests do too. We just had a Christmas brunch, where DH hung everyone's coats in the foyer closet. They fetched their own coats when they left.

It will come in handy again at Christmastime when we have 5 overnight guests... nice place for their coats/hats/gloves/shoes to live for the duration.

We do not have a front closet, but do have a HUGE (8X12) walk-in closet by the mud room/family entrance. It has 12' of hanging space, and full shelves on the opposite wall. It has a bench and hooks, too. Meets all our needs. If someone comes to the front door, and needs to hang a coat, it's just a few steps away to the mud room closet. We also have long benches by both entrances where everyone can take their shoes off/on.

It might not be necessary, but I can't imagine not having one. I think it's just polite to offer to take someone's coat when they enter your house and hang it neatly in a closet. Friends who drop by often just throw their coats over a chair, which is fine, but whenever I have a group of people over I definitely hang up their coats. My parents and their friends always retrieve their guests' coats and help them put them on and I've always thought that is such a nice way to say goodbye to someone. Not sure that my husband and I have done that yet, but perhaps we'll start in our new house!

For Christmas I want Joyce's 8x12 closet!

I have a vague recollection of my father telling me that in order to qualify for an FHA loan, a house had to have a closet within a certain number of feet of the front door. Had something to do with FHA's "minimum property standards."

This was way back in the mid 1970's when Mom and Dad were building a home in the Texas panhandle using an FHA loan and I mentioned that their entryway would look better if they eliminated the front closet.

As I said tho, the memory is vague so I may not be remembering correctly, or my Dad may have misunderstood the FHA requirements, or even if the FHA had such a requirement back then, it may not be a requirement anymore. But if by any chance you're using an FHA loan, you might want to check.

Otherwise, the short answer is "no, you don't have to have an entry closet." We don't and we never miss it.

The problem is, most foyer coat closets are token affairs that are empty 99% of the time. They are usually too small for more than a few coats. (If the closet is for guest use, you wouldn't store household items in it.)

If you have a large party, the host or an assigned child can show guests to a bedroom. This allows guests to put themselves in order after arriving.

I show guests to our guest suite to leave their coats. I also point out the powder room. A bench and 'boot tray' can be placed in the foyer.

Gracious Colonial homes had 'cloakrooms' for male and female guests. People traveled farther and were more exposed to the weather. It's still nice for guests to know where they are welcome -- what's for guests and what's private.

Obviously, I'm in the minority here. For me, the more closets the better!!

I agree with cbusmomof3--the more closets the better.

We have frequent large parties (in all seasons). We definitely use the front closet in the fall/winter/spring time. We keep some of our "out of season" coats there, but mostly it's for guests (and for some reason, 2 suitcases).

Since the bedrooms (except for the master) are upstairs and downstairs, showing our guests to a bedroom isn't feasible. Our guests coming for the evening don't usually leave the main floor--and I don't want guests in my bedroom.

Even overnight guests leave their coats in the coat closet--it's more convenient than keeping them in the bedroom.

Although gracious Colonial homes may have had two cloakrooms--most of us don't have that kind of space. So, since I can't have an extra cloakroom, I'll settle for a front closet.

Obviously, people have different opinions here--but in the midwest, I wouldn't give one up in favor of a coatrack.

I agree the more closets the better...but if your foyer closet is going to be used for wrapping paper and table leaves then why waste the space? We are not going to have a closet in the front entry. I THOUGHT I wanted one, and then there wasn't really space for it...I paid attention at our current home that does have an entry closet, and it just doesn't get used (not for coats). So I didn't waste the space in the entry of our new home...though I did go wild with closets throughout the rest of the new house!

What did you decide today at the designer appointment?

We have a front entry closet and it hardly gets used. We do not use the front entry, we have a large mudroom with a coat closet as well as storage closet for vacuum, wrapping paper etc. the front coat closet is for guests only. if we have family visiting and staying with us , they usually use the mushroom closet as they are entering through the garage.

If it fits in your floor plan, then great, but if not then no big deal.

Now if this is the family's main entrance, then absolutely you need a coat closet, and the bigger the better.

We like and use ours multiple times daily.

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and comments. I read them all to DH and it really helped us understand and focus on our priorities.

We decided to take out the front closet. We have plenty of closets and storage for all the other things that were mentioned. Our builder is going to create a niche for a bench with coat hooks above it. We drew out a couple of variations and came up with a nice plan. The best part is that by removing the closet we were able to relocate the powder room which opens up room in my laundry room and sewing room. Utilizing the space for every day use was a higher priority than guest coat storage.

Thanks again!

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

I think the 'guest' coat closet and 'guest' powder room often take up too much space and cost too much for the use they get. Maybe they are going the way of the formal dining room...and the maid's quarters? (No help = no formal dining?)

I 'walk though' a house plan thinking about how the full-time residents will use it.

One house does not have a coat closet.
An older house was expanded and the living room became the foyer with the front door moved to what used to be the side of the house.
We use coat trees, but miss having a place to store coats out of sight but convenient to the door.

we have a large mudroom off the garage and a coat closet at the front entrance. i couldn't do without either.