To consider getting rid of my 'dumping' table?

[minotaur]

We live in a small Victorian Terrace. The entrance is a narrow hallway (no room for furniture), with a right-turn into our narrow rectangular living room. Once in the living room there is a sofa/tv area on the right (front of house) and a sort of 'dining'; area on the left, although we no longer use it for dining since we extended our kitchen.

It's a little dark at that end of the room, but its become a sort of hobby/storage area. We have a piano, some cupboards filled with a mixture of useful stuff and junk, a fish tank, a hamster cage, and a clutter of scooters and sports equipment that don't seem to fit anywhere else. Dominating the middle is our old 6-seater dining table. It has become our 'dumping' table; the place where we put out coats, bags, hats, gloves, folders, and other paraphernalia when we first walk through the door.

It's time for a re-think. I'd like a desk for the kids to use a laptop, so something has to go. The table's days are numbered. But (and it's a big but) ... where will we dump our stuff?

How do other families deal with this? We do have an under-stairs cupboard, but it's jam-packed already. I'm seriously considering replacing the big table with a small one, purely for 'dumping' on, although it would be nice to have a less visible solution.

Where do you usually hang all coats and bags?

Can you declutter the under the stairs cupboard?

Can you put hooks anywhere for coats and bags, and shelves for the other bits? I try to get my "dumping" stuff organized vertically so it takes up less space.

Have a look at some storage solutions at IKEA for example - you could have some sort of unit that also has hooks and drawers, etc. Each family member could have a drawer each to dump their stuff in and larger items could go in the cupboard. I couldn't bear to have all that stuff looking at me every time I past it... You might also be able to fit some high shelves in your hallway - even though it's narrow, you could put them above head height. Larger items - can you not have a shed? When we lived in London, so with limited space out front, we managed to fit a small, half height shed in our front garden, just tall enough for our bikes - it was so handy and didn't block any view out of the window.

A bit different as I have a separate hall/porch, but we have little boxes/baskets for stuff, like a hat/scarf box for kids, one for me, one for DH, a sunglasses box (small obvs), bike lights, etc LOADS of hooks for coats, racks for shoes and four head height shelves for helmets, footballs, waterproofs, etc. All IKEA. The racks are also benches, so you would also provide you with "dumping" ground. Perhaps you need to sort through /organise your under the stair stuff?

You need an ikea storage unit. Get together all the stuff you dump on the table, see which ikea piece of storage will hold it all in such a way that you can see it etc.

Whilst you are at it, you could also get more storage furniture for your sports equipment, fish tank, hamster cage etc. you may find something that goes quite high up (and is fixed to the wall to prevent tipping) quite useful if you have a large amount of stuff.

We have the basket of crap in the kitchen.
Drives me mad as none of it is mine.

It must look like a skip. Who in their right mind dumps coats and bags on a dining room table?

Good storage is your friend. It would drive me mad.

Get an Expedit. They just eat dumpage. Even coats will go in the boxes.

If you go to ikea for storage leave the DP and DC at home.

By the time I come out I need a divorce lawyer and a big glass of wine.

Storage is the key, sort out under the stairs and use that as the dumping room.

Coat stand ??

Yy to Expedit. I'd go spare if people dumped coats and bags on a table. That's the sort of thing that makes a house look much messier than it really is.

Coats hung on coat rack/stand, coat hooks on the hall wall?

Bags hung on hooks on the back of doors?

Small shed to put bikes, scooters etc.

Everything else in bedrooms, or storage boxes etc

You could superglue coat hooks on the side of a 2x4 Expedit. That would work.

Then a little laptop station next to it. Would easily fit in the space a 6 seater dining table takes up.

I read this as 'dumpling table', I was going to offer to buy it, I love dumplings.

My 'orrible horde dump stuff in the hall and when that's full they resort on or, DH I'm looking at you, under the kitchen table.

They are totally unrepentant and free to a good home.