That is so nice looking besides being very useful. I like your sense of style.

We use our hanging hooks inside the door a lot -- I wish I had gotten them sooner!!! We do not abuse them - it just keeps the main living area uncluttered until they can be put away ( one day we need a light jacket, next day a heavy coat and scarf so in the past, they ended up all over the den, on the backs of chairs, etc).

It's funny - today I actually was looking at similar items in a JC Penney catalog I got this week. I was trying to imagine where I could use this!

I've looked at several similar items and decided they probably wouldn't work for us. We have so much wet snow gear during the winter.

Our entry hallway is 5' wide, but I know we would end banging knees or tripping on seating placed there. Luckily, we have niche with originally was supposed to be the dumbwaiter. It's 4' wide and 3' deep and has ended up being the perfect spot for the hanging hooks as well as the rack for the dripping snowboots. Each of the kids has assigned spots so that decreased the fighting.

We have two full sized coat closets in the area, but the hook system is so much easier for the kids. I really like it now, looking down the hall from the front door you don't see the niche, but coming in from the back door or garage, it's easily seen and used.

Gloria

Our foyer unfortunately couldn't handle it, or I'd get it in a heartbeat! We have a large foyer, but it doesn't have much wall space. We do have a laundry room between the kitchen and the garage, and I *wish* the architect would've been smart enough to make it a bit wider, because that would be the ideal spot to put that sort of furniture in our house. Sort of like a "mud room". Fortunately it doesn't snow here (maybe once a year), so for now we just use our coat closet.

Sheryl

Marie, thanks for the compliment!

We only have tiny foyer on the front. The door we usually use, on the side of the house, opens straight into the living room. We recently enlarged our laundry room, but decided that in this old house, it would be best to dedicate as much space as possible to storage. And at this point, we don't use the laundry room door to enter & leave the house. We probably will when we add on a garage, but that's a few years down the road.

We have a cottage type house with what I call a central type floor plan. There is a small hallway, but it is open on both ends to other rooms of the house, instead of ending in a wall. This sounds odd but it's the best way I can think of to describe the hall right now: it's L-shaped but both sides of the L are the same length. One side has a niche where this bench & rack will fit perfectly. We really need some type of furniture or something there; it looks bare. And it's right off our bedroom, so it's a perfect spot.

Our weather is like Karen's: we need a heavy coat one day, just a light jacket the next. The weather doesn't get cold here during the winter & just stay cold, so our outerwear varies greatly.

I fought this for years by insisting that the coats be hung in our bedroom closet so they were hidden. DH, however, is terrible about that. He prefers using hooks. Realistically, our tiny closet is too small as it is. Trying to shove the coats in it just made it more crowded.

I have decided to declare war on the coats, though. I counted last week & discovered that DH currently has seven coats of varying weights. I told him some of them that are basically duplicates would have to go. I only have four, plus my raincoat, which I only use during warmer weather.

Wonderful and gorgeous ---- and really useful too!!!

Sounds like plan!

Will DH be willing to put his shoes there, in the front hall? Do you usually go shoeless in the house? If so, it'll work. But if he usually doesn't take his shoes off until bedtime, I bet you'll still have a problem.

I made a "locker-room" type set of cubbies for backpack and shoes, and EVERYONE I spoke to about it said, "Oh, you'll put the shoes on the bottom." BUT--the counterintuitive way actually works better.

The backpacks, which are heavy, don't have to be lifted up anywhere.

And the *shoes* work better, too--bcs it's actually a pain to bend all the way over to the floor. (We do NOT have a bench, so maybe that influences why this works.) Basically, they lean over once--to put the shoes on. Otherwise, they reach out at chest level to pluck their shoes off the shelf; they don't have to bend over or get down on their knees to get the shoes, and then stand up to move away (or to turn around to sit on the bench, maybe), then sit down again and put on shoes.

Every shoe storage solution puts the shoes on the floor. I actually have come to believe that putting them higher up is probably more sensible--it certainly works out that way for our cubbies--since they have to move out of the way for the other siblings, making them lean over to get their shoes seems silly.

And I can't imagine having to pick up those backpacks to set them up above a rack of shoes!!

When we move to a bigger place, the backpacks will end up in the bedrooms, so maybe we'll go for a bench set-up like this, and see if the shoes-at-the-bottom thing works better. (I'd leave the shoes in their rooms too, but we live in an apt., and my kids make less noise if they take off their shoes!)

I'm a big fan of hooks!

Though our row of hooks in the foyer can get pretty crowded, w/ 4 people's heavy coats, medium coats, and slickers. And then there's spring (or this particular winter), when you actually need the light coats around too. I've taken to hanging my own coats in my closet; once I train myself, it actually works better. I do forget and leave them on the back of a chair now and then, but at least I consider that a goof, and not "the way things should be."

DH either wears slippers or goes barefoot in the house. I showed DH several different types of benches/hall trees that I liked. I was going to get a bench with a lift-up lid. He remarked that he would like this one better because he can sit down on the bench & then pull a basket out instead of having to pick the lid up first. He is actually looking forward to getting it!

Tally Sue - that's funny - I was thinking that, too, about shoes. In fact, we put our boots (after they dry) on the upper shelf in the closet. It just works better for us.

Let us know how that "pulling out the basket of shoes while you're sitting down" thing works--I'll be interested, bcs maybe we'll get a bench for our new place (if the new place works out the way it *ought* to).

Have you seen similar (and cheaper) at Target?

Nearly identical, if you are interested. :)

The one I saw was identical. It was at JC Penney's.