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?

Do you have a porch? We have a Welly box in our porch for wellies or muddy shoes so mud doesn't get trod through the house.

Other shoes then go in a shoe cupboard but agree that the door typically just = an open cupboard with a pile of shoes just outside the door.

Could you maybe approach the landlord and discuss operations for inbuilt storage? A local joiner could easily put up a basic bench, shelves and coat pegs for similar amount than an IKEA storage system, but it would last longer and enhance value of the place. Maybe you could come up with a design and offer to go half on costs, or even if landlord won't pay, you might still get the most workable and enjoyable solution with built in pegs and shelving/cupboards.

Friends have a beautiful big vintage wardrobe that includes drawers. They drilled lots of air holes in the base of the drawers so shoes don’t get stinky. Big enough that they can be flung in willy nilly so it can be done in seconds by impatient hungry children who wouldn’t fanny around stacking them neatly to fit. Masses of wardrobe space to hang coats with a shelf at the top for seasonal gubbins – shade tents, umbrellas – and baskets on the bottom shelf to corral the junk. They don’t need anything else though they do have a welly rack on the porch. We too have a welly rack on the porch that everyone ignores in favour of tramping mud into the narrow hallway (my kingdom for a big hallway!) and flinging wellies off there . They have the advantage of being in “no locked doors” territory so it’s easy for kids to manage welly discarding and opening the door, and an overhanging porch to shelter from rain. God, I love their house. Wardrobe was secondhand and free!

I’m planning to buy a couple of these and hack into storage for our ground floor, there’s also a two door version: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256175797096?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=WRQT_VNsTK-&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=0hqxfj0aTEC&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Would drilled airholes work for stinky shoe drawers? That's a thought.

I'm trying to remember - I think there's a little covered area for a welly rack.

What we have now is a biggish porch in which I keep a mostly empty shoe rack, and we mountaineer over all the shoes to get into the house.