I have a tall closet, w/ a tall door even, and I find that storing stuff on the topmost shelf is hard because I have to maneuver stuff down in front of everything to get it into the doorway. So I used short "under-bed" boxes up there. The standard "stash a lot of stuff" bins are too big to make the turns.

(and that's w/ a closet door that's as tall as a regular door plus a transom)

These are 9.5-ft ceilings, so note that there's only about 14" of space above the door opening (see the corner w/ the ceiling in it, on the far right?)--and it's still a tight turn.

So, don't let the topmost shelves stick too far out into the space, or you won't be able to get anything in or out.

And of course, pockets on the back of the door would be nice for mittens, gloves, dog leashes.

And as he's framing, remember that having space "around the corner" from the door frame (when the door is 24" wide, but the closet is 36") is really annoying and hard to get to. So try to have your doorway go the full width of the closet.

jwm211, I have a closet very similar to your new one. Recently I brought down the little shelves I bought for our son's closet to add some better storage to our back entry coat closet. As you can see we've not added the door to it yet as we keep changing out mind on what kind of door we want since the door to the basement is directly across from this closet. In fact I stood a few steps down to get all the closet in.
These little shelves and the over the door shoe pocket storage has really made a difference in keeping it neat looking. If we put a standard door in the pocket will go over the door. The space to the right of the shelves is where I normally store my Bissel. I hope this pix helps.
Since you hubby is building the closet he could build these shelves in the width of the closet, which is what I plan to do someday. Just wanted a quick fix since I didn't have the lumber I needed on hand when I got the idea.
Oh, our son no longer lives at home so I didn't take anything he needed.

{{!gwi}}

Thanks to you both for the good suggestions. And the pictures really help!