help with keeping hallway tidy please.

[mumat39]

hello
i tried to browse through the various babysteps threads but am still not sure.

i need help with shoe storage, bikes and scooters and toy storage. And bloody post.

At the moment we have an old chest of drawers in the hallway by the front door shoes but need to reclaim that for clothes. So where/how do you all store shoes? Dp has size 10/11 shoes so we need something that will hold those but also Dc shoes. Between us we have about 16 pairs for everyday wear inc. shoes, trainers, sandals, wellies/boots.

Also under the stairs is a mess with two scooters, a bike, a space hopper plus a few other toys. Haven't really got anywhete else to put these as car boot already has 2 buggies in it. Any ideas?

Also, where do you put paperwork? I have piles of it all over the place including on chest of drawers for shoes. I have a plastic storage filing box which is at the bottom of my wardrobe and not easy to get to besides which it is full to bursting. So i would be more organised about putting stuff away i hope if it was just a bit easier.

We also have a rug by the front door to stop all of us walking too much rubbish in and esp wet feet. But the rug is also messy looking. We have a laminate floor.

It would be SO lovely to have a nice welcoming hallway that I don't have to apologise for so any advice would be great.

Many thanks in advance and apologies for any typos.

I'LL try and post a pic. thanks so much everyone.

Without knowing the dimensions of your hallway and where the stairs are in relation to the front door, I can't tell, but one possibility in a traditional town house might be to put a very secure, large shelf up, with a large mirror above it. Put matching baskets on the shelf for hats, scarves, gloves and general bits and pieces, and have one per person, labelled. Have hooks mounted on the wall below for bags, school backpacks, and anything you are able to store in drawstring bags. Then have plastic trays along the floor underneath for shoes and boots, again one area per person.

Sort of a bit like this

In my tiny London flat I got a flat pack shelf unit, painted in cream, and made a curtain to hang in front of it, and that coped with lots of shoes. I put the family diary on top of it, and a big mirror on top of that. A shaker peg rail on the side wall dealt with our everyday coats.

A more utilitarian version of this, but with a pretty curtain in front

Have you got any space underneath the stairs?

Can you afford the luxury of a dedicated spare room? If it's not actually used that often for people to stay in, why not make it dual purpose? Put a sofa bed in there, and storage cupboards for paperwork/general crap.

We have an open-plan hallway/dining room and it drives me mad when my highly-expensive dining table gets used as a dumping ground for schoolwork/post etc.. Have to nag regularly remind everyone to MOVE THE DAMN CRAP!!! We have a porch too, and I was adamant when we moved in that, as the first impression people get of the house, it should not be littered with muddy trainers. So I bought a latticed-front medium-height cupboard with shelves for shoes - the lattice front means it's aired. I have plants and a lamp etc.. on top, with a large mirror above to make the space look larger. I also have another one (solid doors in similar wood to table) in the dining room for the rest. We too have a lot of shoes, although I do need to cull regularly.

We converted our garage a few years back, to make a playroom/family room/whatever. It was a daunting task clearing out all the crap from the garage before the work started but we were able to bin 3/4 of it (old paint pots, you know the sort of thing) and use the loft and the garden shed for the rest. It can be done - if you're in the mood for it. A fair proportion of what we keep is really not necessary.

I also used to have a wicker basket under the stairs for hats,scarves and gloves etc.. Then we got a puppy, so that had to change, as he kept running off with them and chewing them up.

Sorry, wrong link

hello. I've added some photos onto my profile. thanks again.

clam. The spare room already has a sofa bed and wardrobes that house all manner of things and are full to bursting. i think maybe we should have a go at culling those things. we also have most of the toys in there. a spare sofa that we really need to sell and a desk which Dp uses most dsys for work. so its not really a spare room in that sense.

I can't seem to log onto your profile. Have you set the permissions properly?

In terms of culling, I think if you get each room to tell a story, it's easier to get rid of things and create a space that will actually be nice to use. For example, think through the way you want to feel when you come into the house, and the things you all do, and then create a space to suit it. Move on to the spare room. Do you ever have guests to stay? If not, consider turning it into a home office instead and set it up so it fulfils that function properly. You can always have an inflatable bed or sofa bed in there for occasional guests, or even better, out them up in a Travelodge! Do you see where I am going with this? It's about making your space suit the life you want to lead, rather than getting in your way.

I've just reset my profile. is it working now?

Spare room hss sofa bed, toys, and desk.

I can see them now. You have a completely standard hallway, which is good.

I would be inclined to do the following.

1. Empty out the chest of drawers and put it under the stairs.

*Put hat, scarves and gloves in the top drawer, in sections.
*In the second drawer down, put little toys and other small things that you would normally grab on the way out to the park or car, and spare nappy changing/toilet training gear, or changes of clothes as required. It's also a good place to keep suncream and sunglasses, pocket packs of tissues, and a small emergency first aid kit.
*In the next drawer down, put spare reusable bags, umbrellas, swimming bags, picnic rugs and that kind of thing.

Basically then you have all the things you need on the way into or out of the house, all in one place.

1. On top of the chest of drawers, put:

• A nice mirror
• Your Household Captain's log
• An A4 sized diary with a big bulldog clip attached for school letters and reminders
• A little tray for unopened post
• Keep a book of stamps here as well, and a pen
• Here is also a good place for a phone and the phone books, if there is space
• Consider mounting a key cupboard on the wall.

1. Put up at least a couple of attractive peg rails for coats on the other side to where you have them now. Add another peg rail (in appealing colours?) for children's coats at a lower level.

1. At floor level you can install a couple of the IKEA shoe cupboards you were thinking about, where the chest of drawers is now.

1. Get hold of a small shed for the toys and keep them out the back, or if you have no garden, we'll have to think about that problem next (and the hoover).

Wow boffin, you are on fire today!

I am da Boff.

Have same dilemma as mumat39, great links and ideas ..thanks!

Hello Boffin. WOW!! You're brilliant! Thanks so much for all your help.

I just wanted to check a couple of things before I put your plan into action.

1] The chest of drawers is supposed to be going up to our room for clothes, so do you think we should get another one for under the stairs or is there a better option. I do have hats and gloves in the top drawer of the chest but all the other things you mention sound great.

2] Did you mean a mirror above the chest of drawers under the stairs? There wouldn't be much room for that. I must have this wrong

3] The coat hooks are behind the front door at the moment, so should we move them to toe opposite wall or the bit of wall to the right of the front door, which is shown in the hallway pic? We have two, one at high level for our things and one at low level for the kids stuff. We initially put them behind the door as I thought that would be less messy looking, but freeing up this wall makes sense as we can't fit much into the space where the chest of drawers currently is as it's not very wide due to the radiator.

4] Do you mean buy the shoe cabinet and put this on the wall on the left of the front door, where the coats currently are? If that's what you mean I think we might be able to get 2 in there, which will be plenty for all our shoes. I've seen that in the IKEA catalogue (I think) and it makes a nice shelf so I could get some nice candles or decorative stuff. I'm excited as your ideas are making me feel like we could have a grown up space rather than student digs if you know what I mean?

Thanks again so so much. I have been pondering over this dilemma for at least the last 3 years and just haven't figured it out, so you really are brilliant. I'm going to try and get to IKEA tomorrow to get the shoe cabinets. :)

Bounty, I'm glad it's not just me that has this problem. I wish I'd asked for help a long time ago. Good Luck with solving your hallway woes.

1. It's up to you. If the chest of drawers looks nice there, keep it in the same place and order another one for the bedroom (if you really need it, that is, after culling your extraneous stuff). If you would prefer a different chest of drawers in the hall, then move this one up to the bedroom. I actually the dark brown looks pretty classy in the hall but ultimately it's your choice.

1. A little mirror on the wall would make the space look even more deliberate. It would also allow you to check your hair etc on the way out in the morning. But obviously like you say it depends on space. By the way, vintage would be best for that hallway.

1. The coat hooks are in completely the wrong place as they eat up the space, whereas on the other side you have a bigger space between the door frame and the far wall. I would actually make a feature of this storage. I'd be inclined to search for vintage hooks and/or an Edwardian coat stand, and position it so that the coats looked deliberate. Another nice touch would be to use posh hangers for the better coats, and display them more prominently.

hall stand on Ebay for £34

Hall stand on Ebay for £102

Vintage hook rack on Dibor for £78 - look for a cheaper version of this, perhaps?

1. There are a number of options for the shoe cabinets, depending on whether you decide to acquire a hall stand as a feature item. You could put them on the wall on the left hand side of the chest of drawers under the stairs, if there is room, one on top of the other. Alternatively you can paint them the same colour as the wall and put them discreetly next to the hall stand, or a final option might be to use them instead of a hall stand, side by side, and put some vintage pegs/hooks above them, so it has the effect of some kind of bespoke hall stand. You would have to contrive a special hanging space for the children's clothes in that case, and I would be tempted to have a look at some of the options here (I believe MN people can get a discount off the site). I rather like the little children's coat stand, personally, but the expanding peg rail is possibly another stylish option.

Accessories

This Wild and Wolf phone would look great.
Phone

This vintage letter rack in an Art Nouveau style seems to be going for a mere fiver this evening.

Letter rack

Rather spiffing little key cupboard

Here

Hope that all helps.

BTW, shoe cabinets aside, it's often better value to buy unfashionable antiques at the moment than spend your money on flatpack stuff from IKEA and the like - they make a house more homely and they will actually hold their value in years to come, as antiques and vintage stuff is about as cheap as it's going to get at the moment.

I must go to bed now!

PS I suggest moving the radiator if you can, or getting and tall one like one of these so you can contrive enough space for a showy piece of furniture if you can.

And get a plain hall runner, like this one, made to order for you for all of about £20-£30.

here

I have ikea trofast bookcase under my stairs for shoes (picture on profile), but you could also use it for shoes, paperwork etc. I know not the best looking but it has made the hallway so much neater. Children each have box and very good at putting shoes away just need to work on DH. You could then get a tall thin cupboard or bookcase to go where the drawers went for more storage or a coat stand would work well in that space.

Just leaves the bikes, scooters, could these not go in the shed (if you have one).

Hall stand porn

This has to be the mother of all hall stands for your family at a mere £1650 LOL . High hooks, low hooks, and the possibility of hanging bags on brass butchers' hooks from the umbrella rail. Shelf large enough for diary and vintage phone, as well as antique brass post rack, cupboard for Household Captain's Log, even a place to put wet kids' wellies on. If I win the lottery this week I'll buy it for you.

With all flat pack furniture it's worth painting it with Cupboard Makeover Paint and changing the handles. It can make a huge difference. WRT Trofast, painting it cream and using little baskets instead of plastic tubs would transform the look.

It occurred to me that an antique wardrobe may also be an option, with the right configuration. You'd have to measure up quite carefully, though.

[[http://www.sellingantiques.co.uk/antiquedetail.asp?autonumber=136668 This would hold all your coats, and your shoes could go in the drawer, with bigger ones underneath the coats in the main section. Then you could move the chest of drawers upstairs. Then you could get under the stairs boxed in to your own design and organise the other clutter that way. At £195 it's going to be cheaper that IKEA!

This would probably swallow up everything you own but is more expensive, at £495