I think your instincts are good. Yes, a coat tree in the corner behind the door would work, or perhaps a pretty peg rack on the wall, and then a desk to the left of the radiator. I'm not sure I'd like a bench in front of the radiator, though. What about getting a nice wood radiator cover/bench to cover it? The first hit in a google search turned up an interesting idea, at http://americanfoursquare.blogspot.com/2007/12/building-radiator-cover-bench.html

You might try floating your couch, or perhaps a couple of easy chairs, opposite the fireplace and with their back to the "foyer". As long as it leaves the entry into the dining room clear it would serve as a divider between the living area and the foyer.

Some thoughts...Would you have enough room to float the couch facing the fireplace and have the desk behind the sofa acting as both a sofa table and an entry table? A tray or basket could be placed under the desk for shoes. Would you consider a corner cabinet or built-in to the left of the radiator as a coat closet/leash storage unit?

That radiator bench cover is brilliant!

What a pretty entry. I don't think you should cover or bench the radiator, it's in really good shape and should be left. I think a bench cattycorner on the wall left of the radiator would be very nice. A coat rack and umbrella holder in the right corner. And then a table on the right side of the door for keeping keys and such. The leashes and so on could go on the coat rack, or you could put the corner bench with a back and hooks and a top shelf instead of just a bench. I look forward to seeing what you decide.

Great house!

Just asking, and I hope you don't mind, but do you have an entry into the house near the kitchen, a back or side door of some kind? Seems that would be the place for the dog leashes and muddy shoes, etc.

If that is not an option, then I would be looking for an armoire to sit either on the wall to the right of the dining room entry, or at an angle in that corner. Leashes hang inside on the doors, coats and jackets on hooks or a rod inside, shoes on a boot tray in the bottom.

Rather than one long bench in front of the radiator, which could be a traffic issue, I would get a pair of smaller ottomans or benches to put on either side of the radiator.

I would be careful about putting something to the right (living room) side of the front door. As people step in, they will necessarily need to step to the left, since the door swings to the right. A small desk against the wall there with a nice lamp could be a great place for keys,mail, etc without being too much in the way.

A great rug that is large enough to create the feeling of a full entry area will help, too, rather than just a little rug up against the door. Let it pick up the colors in the LR and the DR, since both will be visible from that vantage point.

Great ideas, everybody. I hadn't thought of a corner cupboard-type thing to the left of the radiator, but it's an excellent idea for the space. Forhgtv, using the partner's desk as you suggest is a great idea, and a basket underneath it would be very well camouflaged indeed, since the desk is dark itself and what's under it will be deeply shadowed, as well as hidden from the main seating area.

A problem with adding a radiator cover is tha every rad in the house sticks up higher than the window sills. A bench over this rad would be uncomfortably high. Otherwise, I'd definitely consider it. I do think the entry will fee quite spacious, and I definitely plan to use a larger rug that leads all the way from the front door to the dining room door to define the space. The whole livng room is 22 feet from the rad we can see in the pic to the fireplace wall at the other end, so it should be easy to have a seating area grouped around a 9x12 rug plus a generous entry plus the big desk as a divider without feelng cramped.

Les917, there is a back door that leads from the kitchen into the back yard, and that will be a major doggie thoroughfare, but it's a TINY space - just a landng about 30"x36" between the kitchen and the back door. There, too, I'll need to hang some hooks for coats, but once a coat or two is hanging there, I'll have to shoulder past them with spaniels underfoot. There's no place all for shoes back there, with the back door swinging in over the whole landng space. It's tiny. Yes, there is a major kitchen remodel and mudroom addition in my future, but not for a few years down the road. The more immediately relevant fact is that 90% of the time I'll come and go from the sidewalk through the front door - in with groceries, out to walk dogs in the neighborhood - and I KNOW the front hall will be a major landing/staging area, so I'd better be realistic and plan for it.

A followup: Les917 asked about my back door. I took some pics yesterday. Here's the back door space, looking from the kitchen:

That's it! I took this picture with my back against the fridge. There's really not much space to work with.

In our previous home we replaced a radiator with cast iron baseboard heat because I needed wall space for an armoire. That might be an option for you.

You could put a bookcase (with a back) next to the door and hang the leashes on the back or side. It would also make a more private entrance.

Caminne, that is a BRILLIANT idea, because I definitely need as much bookcase space as I can squeeze into every room, and at the moment there are no built-ins. Now, les917 cautioned against putting something just to the left of the door as you come in (i.e. on the living-room side of the door), to avoid cramping people (or dogs) as they step around the door, which I think it good advice. But if you look at my floorplan, you can see that there's quite a bit of space between the front door and the front wall windows. Floorplan:

I think it should be possible to put a bookcase so it more or less lines up with the left side of the entrance to the dining room, which is about where I'd want the living room rug to end and the entryway rug to start. (Not describing this too well, but will try to photoshop a furniture-arranging floorplan soon.) In any case, I think that would leave plenty of clearance to get around the door - more clearance than you'd have in the entry to most historic rowhouses around here, anyway.

That would preclude using the big desk as a sofa-table-type room divider, but I think it would solve two serious storage problems at once. I wonder if it would even be possible to have two bookcases back to back, with one facing the living room for books and the other offering baskets for leashes and mittens and whatnot on the door side. I'm thinking maybe about 36" high - high enough to make a divider, but low enough not to block light and to make it easy to put things down on top of. Hmm....

You could do two bookcases long ways also. Maybe a tall one beside the wall and a shorter one next to it. Something like this. Grey line would be a leash. You could even put a lamp on the lower part with a basket for keys and mail, ect.
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Back again. Painting starts Monday, so we have a few more pics with the yucky colors :-) Despite my best intentions, I impulse-bought a piece of furniture. I'm sure this forum will understand! I went to opening day of a new salvage/antique/etc. shop and fell in love with this small-scale sideboard. I thought it would be perfect as a divider between the entryway and living room, but once I put it there, it felt a bit spindly and too high. I might feel differently once other furniture is in the room, but I think I might also go back to forhgtv's idea of using the big desk in a sofa-table-like position as a room divider. Meanwhile, the new piece is scaled perfectly to go next to the fireplace. Anyway, thought I'd share these pics, since they also give a better sense of the entry area and living room than the ones I posted earlier.

hi there
your impulse buy is cute, but i think you need it with its back against the wall. we have a similar floor plan in our bungalow and we ended up making a small closet in the next room (in our case it was a bedroom, not the dining room). you step into that room before you put your coat away. it's not too bad. there is also a low radiator, in our case on the front wall, with a bench over it. and hooks. good luck!

kren_pa, I'd been hoping for something of a waist-height divide between the entry and sitting area. I did try the sideboard with its back to the wall next to the door, but there's an outlet thingy protruding from the baseboard there so it doesn't sit flush against the wall. I could have the electrician remove that, or I could use a desk or table or somesuch that has a little clearance underneath. I'll see how this all works when all my furniture is moved in.

Carinr, what a great house! I love it. Living with a piece of furniture there for a while sounds like a very goodidea. My thought was to create a tiny suggestion full-height wall to the right of the door (as you face it), maybe 8-16" or so, appropriately placed in relation to the DRM doorway opposite. Then wrap the window on the the end/outside wall to the left with your storage/bookcases. If desired, storage could stop somewhere 1/2-2/3 up the wall (relating to a significant architectural feature such as the line formed by the double-hung window frames or...mantle?) and could have doors. The shelf forming the top and the wall above it would be nice for display of art.

I would like this idea even better if a similar suggestion of a wall could be placed to the left of the dining room doorway, but one would do to define the entry end as a separate space as seen from the entry while actually leaving it one spacious room.

Rosie, sorry for the delay in responding and thank you! I love your idea for built-ins. I like the idea of integrating both sides of the living room (i.e. near the front door and near the dining room door) with whatever goes around and next to the windows on the end wall. I will definitely have to live with furniture in the room for a while before I figure out how much openness vs. separation I really want between the entry and living spaces, but that is a very good suggestion to keep in mind.

Unfortunately for my impatient self, it'll be about 5 weeks before I actually move in. The painters will be busy for about two weeks starting tomorrow, and then I'm out of town for 2 weeks after that, moving when I get back in mid-June. So look for lots of paint updates in the coming days, but little furniture-moving news until next month.