An excellent hallway system (NOT a dumping ground).

[LucyGru]

We're moving to a new place. Rental, not ours - so we can't build anything in.

From the front door, you step into this massive hallway. It's about 2.5m x 5m. It's not especially pretty - not much natural light.

I can just see it becoming an ugly dumping ground for school bags, shoes, coats, swim kits, hockey sticks, shopping bags, shin guards, lunch boxes and everything else...

How can I set it up so it's brilliantly practical and there's a place for everything? AND so that it looks quite nice? I don't want Pinterest chalkboard coat hooks or wire baskets.

I was thinking, for a start, maybe a big wardrobe to hang coats in? On hangers?

We have one of those benches that comes with 3 baskets under (ours was from GLTC I think, or Cotswold co), plus a hall table with two larger baskets under which I bought separately. The 5 baskets together hold a lot of crap - shoes, hats, gloves, small umbrellas etc.

However for coats you obviously need something else. Is there a doorway to a cellar or anything like that? We have hooks on the side of our cellar staircase (there’s a landing at the top) where our coats live.

If you don’t have that, and want a neat look, then yes I guess you’d need a cupboard. It doesn’t have to be full 60cm depth though, you could get a 30cm deep one (eg Pax shallow depth) and put hooks all over the back and sides inside.

What about something like this?

this site seems to do the perfect thing. Not cheap but good value for what it is. Depends how long you’ll be there I guess

@minipie That's gorgeous and (of course) WAY out of budget. Good idea though.

I think that the open looking one above is exactly what I want to avoid. I'm browsing Ikea and a lot of the hallway solutions are all open - shoes on shelves and coats on open hooks. I think in our family that would look really scruffy. We're not an elegant, 'one neat pair of clean white trainers each' sort of family.

I need doors and drawers to shut it all away.

Willow baskets might work though. One each for the kids, plus a couple more.

Billy bookcase with doors for your shoes? I'm told they are excellent for shoes, but you'd need to check as I'm yet to do it myself.

Buy a second hand wardrobe from eBay, marketplace or a charity shop such as the British heart foundation. Upcycle with some paint, Frenchic is easy to use. Add some baskets to the top off it or on the bottom of it.
Ta da!

You've reminded me - we had a Billy for shoes years ago. It was pretty good, except that DH's shoes were too long for a Billy, and also, a shoe cupboard gets quite smelly. We ended up moving it away into the laundry room because it was horrid having it right where you walked into the house.

Just get wardrobes. We have a large built in cupboard with sliding door similar to a wardrobe you have in bedroom (think it is just that actually not something specifically for halls) and it's so useful. Big enough for all coats, shoes, bags and it's so much easier to just shut a door on it all than make sure things are in boxes, lids on, put in shelves in an open shelving unit. Free standing would work as well as inbuilt. Maybe a bench next to it to sit and put on shoes etc.

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/cat/hallway-wardrobes-48007/

Yes, I think wardrobes are the way forward.
Will be op shop, rather than Ikea.

Maybe a massive wardrobe, and a hall table with baskets under it?

We had a 1m wide, full depth, full height pax wardrobe from IKEA, with mirrored doors. It was bloody brilliant!

4 full width basket-type drawers (on runners) at the bottom, one for each person for shoes. Half height hanging rail above for coats on hangers. Shelf above that for scarfs, gloves etc. and the huge mirrored doors were great for extra light and just for being able to see yourself properly before leaving the house.

There are four of us, so we have a 1x4 kallax unit for shoes (a basket for each person, although they don't fit many adult shoes) that we can sit on to put shoes on. Above that we have two of these so we have hooks for coats and a little basket each for hats, scarves, gloves, keys etc. Then my handbags and shopping bags go on the shelf above the coat hooks and schoolbags in another basket beside the kallax.

Might be messier than you're looking for but it's working well for us.

This is great for ideas
https://www.cotswoldco.com/hallway-furniture/shoe-storage-bench/

I would try and replicate the triple door coat and shoe cupboard. A triple regular wardrobe secondhand with some extra shelves and hooks added inside would work nicely.
Then get a storage bench or ottoman so you have somewhere to sit on for boots etc and can use for school bags, sports gear, or wellingtons

Looks of ideas on Frenchic Facebook page. Also marketplace even has some wardrobes for free.

We have a big hallway and have a Kallax 5x5 with nice baskets in, like the ones in the bottom of this photo. Couple of baskets each for shoes, one for bike locks and pumps etc, one for summer hats, one for winter hats and scarves, one each for kids' school bags and a couple spare to hide general crap.

It could just be my family but my experience is that doors are too much of a challenge as they actually have to open them to put something away/find it and then close it again afterwards. Dumping it on the floor instead is so much easier! Instead, we have a Kallax unit with baskets.

If you like clean, clear lines and it all hidden, I'd try clever closets https://clevercloset.co.uk/?gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwldKmBhCCARIsAP-0rfyL7guTbMlMaXeZ669XiMKHoyK2peq-qj52y4l2175Zz-jRsE3X0rsaArNFEALw_wcB we installed one 5ish years ago and I'm so pleased.

I think coats in a wardrobe is a terrible idea, no one will bother with annoying hangers after a week. You need hooks for coats.

You can have hooks in a wardrobe.
Get secondhand wardrobe. Take rail out. Add hooks inside at back and sides.
You can either add shelf lower down so you have two/ three shoe shelves or add another row of low down hooks for toddlers. Shut doors. Mess contained

We seemed to manage for 15 years. I guess it depends on family dynamic and what kind of living environment people enjoy. We were fortunate that there was an overall desire to be tidy and live in nice surroundings, so it was just a case of facilitating that.

Plus using hooks mean your clothes end up creased and out of shape.

Lockers are good with a hanging & shelf combination like this & have lovely colours https://www.sklum.com/uk/buy-wardrobes/77560-2-door-metal-locker-cabinet-pohpli.html?idc=153240&gclid=Cj0KCQjwuNemBhCBARIsADp74QTnTAtYPpWSHJSoRwZG9MMZnbCcINos2ZLebkSYULqURJU8Q2iN9-caAoLEALwwwcB

I was going to say something along these lines!

We used to have a big crate for shoes as there is a tendency in our house to just slip shoes off and wang them across the hall. At least with a crate a few of them went in! Also a hook for each child's schoolbag and smaller baskets for gloves, hats, buffs etc.

Maybe a cupboard with sliding doors would be better so that you can leave it open most of the time but it is easy to shut the mess away if you want to.

If you have a bench, people will just dump their stuff on that.

I love the tacit understanding that this hallway will be used by people who fling shoes and store bicycle pumps and can't close doors.

Good point about doors - my youngest can leave several kitchen cupboard doors open just getting a glass of water. But I do want to conceal the detritus. Baskets are looking good.

And hmm - will people really not use hangers? My granny used to keep her coats on hangers in the hallway cupboard. Seemed sensible to me. Maybe a combo? Hooks to shove the daily school coats and anoraks onto, and hangers for the several other coat options that inevitably migrate to the hall.

Agree with the vintage wardrobe suggestion. I'd also suggest having a table or small sideboard with drawers for all the small stuff like keys and wallets and sunglasses that people remove when they come in the house. And put a plant or a vase of flowers on top so that the flat surface doesn't become a dumping ground.

Agree with doors being challenging though, we have a proper cloakroom (for cloaks, the loo is elsewhere) and I still have to yell at my darling offspring to get them to use it. It does at least make it easy for me to chuck things in there to quickly tidy the hallway if anyone is coming to the house. I have some smelly twiggy shit in there to counteract the smell of all their shoes and football boots though because it does stink.