How to decorate a micro-hallway?

[WittgensteinsBunny]

We live in a small Edwardian terrace. You enter the house into what I can only describe as a micro-hallway, it's about 1m2. It has a radiator and a door mat in it. We moved the old fuse box and electricity meter when we moved in. It's a useless, ugly space at present. So what to put in it / do with it? Also, if you have this type of space where do you keep your coats and shoes? We keep our coats on the door to the front room (irksome) and shoes in the tiny hallway or on the stairs (dangerous!).

I'm feeling very of all the lovely hallways with furniture, stairs with lovely Xmas decorations along the banisters, and somewhere to put your keys!

I've tried Pinterest to no avail. Any suggestions?

No room for a shelves / cubby holes behind the front door for shoes / post etc?

No suggestions because ours is basically the same. In through the front door, stairs straight in front, living room to the left, kitchen to the right.

I just see it as part of the stairs and landing - we're decorating atm and will just merge it all in I suppose.

Oh, and we keep our coats and shoes in the kitchen. We have a row of hooks on the wall, and we have an IKEA sideboard with baskets for shoes.

My PIL have one and keep coats and shoes (on a rack) on the wall behind the door. Works now it's just the two of them in that house and the pile of stuff is pared down. Used to not be able to open the door fully. When they redid the kitchen they also put some hooks up in there, so that's how they keep it manageable. (Personally my mind boggles at how they can have so many coats.)
Friend had a smaller microlobby with same arrangement (and just her, then her and her husband, then her and her family). Stopped working when it got beyond minimal amount of stuff as you'd struggle to get in. A proper hall was one of the reasons she wanted to move, but she now hides coats their coats etc away upstairs and the kids coats go on the back of the downstairs toilet door.
We have a bog standard hall and our coats are on hooks on the angled wall that's the stairs (along with key hooks, noticeboard etc...) Shoes in a pile on the floor. Need to do something about shoes, but (apart from dh) we only have a coat each so it doesn't get out of control (and I regularly weed dh's so his selection doesn't exceed 2 - rest in wardrobe).

Could you post picture here? Would you manage to fit in something like this Ikea shoe cabinet. It is only 17cm deep.

We have a small hallway but in a slightly different way as it is basically just a thin long corridor between bedrooms (we live in a bungalow). Now way we can put anything in it except pics on the wall. So we have decorated it nicely and simply then we have a double glazed porch which is about 2m x 1.2m and is our saviour as we have a coat rack and room for a bench and show rack too. Could you add a porch to the front of your house?

Shoe rack not show rack!

I have the same. I installed Ikea Leksvik coat hooks above the radiator for everyday coats and bags. Instead of carpet the 1m2 floor has a piece of heavy duty doormat cut to fit (brown, bristly!). There's not really room for a shoerack so I slip my shoes off here. It is annoying with visitors though as you have nowhere to stand! I've put a large Ikea double doormat/ rug inside the lounge (the only door that leads off - stairs are straight ahead) to create a bit more space for shoe removal

I considered other storage options but really this is the most elegant solution in my house.

Do you have an understairs cupboard? I have a rail fitted in mine with basic wooden shoe racks and hanging fabric shelf thing from Ikea for remaining coats and shoes.

(The radiator and coat hooks are behind the front door forgot to say)

Do you have any glass in your front door, or much light in your hallway/ stairs? I have a solid wood front door but there's a small pane of frosted glass across the width above. This allows a bit of light in, and I have a mirror at the top of the stairs to reflect a bit more. Everything is painted almond white. I have those paper sphere lampshades in the hall and the landing to keep things simple and uncluttered.

Do you have a handrail up the stairs, visible from the hall? Maybe you could wrap some tinsel/ garlands/ lights? I tend to focus on decorating the lounge and kitchen, where I spend the most time You could put a lovely wreath on the front door to make it feel more welcoming? And/or another on whichever door leads off the micro-hall? You can buy over-door wreath hooks from pound shops/ Wilko and tie using a fat, decadent ribbon

Mirrors reflect light and make small places seem bigger. How about shoe bags on hook rack for children to tidy shoes into.?

i have the same and use over the door coat hooks and was going to get a shoe cabinet , but repurposed a narrow set of shelves with baskets to hold hats, shoes etc. A mirror with hooks under it wd also be good.

Do you have any room at all in the hallway? Can you put up a couple of hooks for coats above the radiator? Maybe keep just one coat per person there. Any room for a thin shoe rack there?

If there's no room at all there, I would suggest decorating it in a light, airy colour, and hanging either a picture or mirror on the wall that you see when the front door opens.

I like the previous suggestion of having a thick fitted doormat that covers the whole floor area.

I thought this
www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-low-shoe-storage-cabinet-oak/p231130565 a thing of beauty .

It's on the other thread in property www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/2524201-Ultra-small-hall-whats-in-yours?

My son has moved into a flat with a small hallway so I have been looking for ideas for him and found this page on housetohome - it helped him a lot to get ideas

www.housetohome.co.uk/room-idea/picture/10-decorating-hallway-ideas

Have you looked on pinterest for any ideas? I always find that helpful...what about adding a mirror to your wall?