Patches,
Do you have a picture you can post? I'm trying to visualize how the cabinets will fit the hallway.

I MUST tell you that I have a coat closet that is 24" deep (not counting the door framing) and I hate it. It has bifold doors and the coat sleeves have to be pushed out of the way to close the doors (which means nobody but me will bother to close them). Take your coats and hang them on a shower rod, then measure left to right sleeve to sleeve and see how wide they actually are. The width of a hanger does not match the width of a coat (and that I can't stress enough--but we have bulky winter coats and haven't seen 80 degrees in months). Have you considered a base storage unit, then hooks on the wall to hang coats? Something similar to those old-timey coat benches, with the base unit with hinged lid and hooks on the side. It would look more cluttery, but so does my closet with the bifold doors always hanging open!

24" closets don't work for my husband's coats. Both of our entry closets are the traditional size and you have to physically push in the sleeves of all of his coats to close the doors. Luckily, we have sliders so it's a quick push. The rest of us are significantly smaller and the 24" is fine for our coats. Since we have always had this problem with him, when we built our closet in the bedroom we went with 36" and bifold doors. His clothing is no longer brushing against the doors and it's just deep enough when we open the doors we can step in a bit and the clothing isn't "right" there. Even his suits push against a 24". The man has some broad shoulders.

Gloria

I am so embarrassed to post these -- I have been really sick and our house is such a huge mess. When I walk downstairs to get some soup or Sprite I just want to go back to bed!!!

Anyway, here are some pics. I took the pics from the view of what you see from the table or counter overhang. I hate seeing the clutter.

I also took one of the bathroom, so you can see that it is long. The vanity is 42" long, so the ultimate solution is to get a shorter vanity and move the door, just probably not this fall. DH says he has a one year no projects for our 10 year anniversay in Dec!

As you can see we just put a door in and still have the transom window to frame in over it, and paint and trim. The room there is the former dining room, now home office and is normally accessed from the entryway as it has double doors there.

I'll hang some of his bigger coats up on the shower rod - great idea, and measure and see.

I wish the display cabinet was down on the floor so I could just take a coat in, hang it up and try to shut the door and see if it works. I just might have to see if the store people will let me anyway.

Here is a link that might be useful: pic

OK, the biggest coat I can find of his on the narrower hanger is 16 inches from shoulder to shoulder and 20 inches from arm to arm. I see what you mean, I would have to push the arms into shut the door. Dang.

Maybe I should just do the shallower one that is 16 inches deep, with hooks instead of a hanging bar inside? Kinda like what the 13 inch deep Pax units do. They do have the pull out hanger system or the folding rail that holds 12 coat hangers that I could use, but I wonder if that is even worth it, or if hooks would be better. Either way, I would still have it behind closed doors to hide the clutter.

What do you think?

BTW, where the divided light glass door is, is where I wanted the coat closet, but DH wanted the door to let light through and to be able to walk from his office directly into the kitchen.

I think I should have tried harder for the closet where the door is. Oh well, too late now!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Ikea clothes hanger

ooh, I love that folding clothes rail!

How many coats would be hanging in there?

Hooks wouldn't work? We have hooks in our front hall,a dn we don't keep EVERy coat there; just the ones in common use. Harder in the transition seasons, of course--spring esp. But mostly OK.

Hi talley_sue,

I think hooks would possibly work. That is what we have now and it works, except for looking messy. As long as the door would close.

Have you used the folding rail?

Problem is, where I am its 30 at night and 60 during the day for several months fall and spring. Thur its supposed to be 78. Crazy. So we will have some light weight and heavy weight coats almost half of the year. I would say no more than 6 total at a time - although I am sure we will fill it to the limit. Would the folding rail work for 6? If so, I could order it and see how it works for us and if not, then use hooks. I guess I was just hoping to use hangers because the hooks seem to make dents in my lighterweight coats, but hooks probably are easier and encourage people to put their coats away, huh?

I need an Ikea to open by me :-)

I haven't used that folding clothes rail. I just like how it looks.

I saw it on display in Emeryville and it seemed like it would work. Maybe I will just order one and see.