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

I have a tall closet, w/ a tall door even, and I find that storing stuff on the topmost shelf is hard because I have to maneuver stuff down in front of everything to get it into the doorway. So I used short "under-bed" boxes up there. The standard "stash a lot of stuff" bins are too big to make the turns. (and that's w/ a closet door that's as tall as a regular door plus a transom) These are 9.5-ft ceilings, so note that there's only about 14" of space above the door opening (see the corner w/ the ceiling in it, on the far right?)--and it's still a tight turn. So, don't let the topmost shelves stick too far out into the space, or you won't be able to get anything in or out. And of course, pockets on the back of the door would be nice for mittens, gloves, dog leashes. And as he's framing, remember that having space "around the corner" from the door frame (when the door is 24" wide, but the closet is 36") is really annoying and hard to get to. So try to have your doorway go the full width of the closet.

I want to thank everyone for their suggestions. While putting in a free standing closet of somesort (like Ikea) would be nice, I really have no place for it. I nearly bought a coat tree a few weeks ago, which could possibly be put in the foyer, but the only place I could put it was right in front of my prized antique cuckoo clock, so I nixed that one. The best suggestion here was one I should have thought of myself, so I thank those who mentioned it. The spot where my coat hooks are is not very wide and made narrower by hanging bulky winter coats. Hanging them on hangers and THEN on the hooks is a great idea! Why didn't I thnk of that!?!?!?!? In the times of year where several different coat weights are often needed, I can hang a lot more coats there and they'll all be flat against the wall. Great idea! Deb in PA

seagrass_gw I hope to be able to fit them in too. It's usually completely empty in the spring and summer, except for rain coats. It's also currently holding the dog's leash. The cord bugs me too. I'm going to create a hook and pull for it, with the pull being stored in one of the closets. But that will be another day. party_music50 There isn't any room for a bench. The hallway is literally only as wide as the front door. I'm planning on putting a runner down and artwork above the doorway to pull your eye up as part of the makeover. You are correct about putting the cabinets where the bench is. That cabinet area space is about 76" long and 26" deep. The actual space right there is squarish, with the doorway on the left going into the kitchen and another door around the corner going into the bathroom.