Hallway Before with undersize Coat Rack (try to ignore the rolled up carpet that needs to go upstairs and the miscellanous house trim sitting on top of the shelf)
Sorry I haven’t posted this week! I hurt my shoulder/back, making everything I do much more difficult. I am hoping that it heals soon!
I feel like I have a million projects started and nothing anywhere closed to finished. I would like to concentrate on our bedroom, but there are a couple of unknown pieces (i.e. future air conditioning and adding additional electric) that have put that on the back burner again. The new carpet is still rolled up in the front hallway. I am hoping to put that in soon so at least I can enjoy something soft on my feet in the morning.
So what is next on the agenda? I decided this week that I NEED to do something about the coat rack in the hallway. I have been trying to come up with a plan for this area for a couple of years now and it never seems to be a priority, but with the cold weather setting in, the number of coats have gone up and our little coat rack isn’t cutting it, never mind that the hooks keep breaking off! I am also looking for a better way to sort mail, besides sitting on the kitchen island.
Old Coat Rack looking really tiny here
Here is my list of requirements:
Zdenka’s Front Hall that I designed last year
1. LOTS of Coat Hooks at 2 Levels (Uppers for the grown ups and longer coats and Lower ones for the kids coats and backpacks). Similar layout to Zdenka’s front hall.
2. Shelves for holding mail baskets (ideally 3 baskets that hold 8 1/2 x 11 paper). I like this shelf from Martha Stewart.
3. The design needs to work with the Victorian feel of our front hallway (dark wood, preferably oak with Victorian brackets)
4. The design can’t stick out more than about 10″, so it doesn’t infringe on the main walking path.
5. I would love a bench, but I don’t think we will have space.
6. Have it done by Thanksgiving!
The Design:
I was planning on making something from scratch, since I want to maximize the 53″ of width. I have some sketches, but nothing that I was totally in love with. Then I found this shelf in the latest Home Decorators Catalog! It is stylistically almost perfect. The size is a little short though. I am currently considering ordering it, and then tweaking it with a new wider top shelf and then adding a board below to hold the hooks. What do you think? Is it lame not to make it from scratch? The only other downside is that it isn’t oak, so the wood won’t totally match.
I have also picked out the coat hooks. I’m obsessed with dome style hooks, because they do a much better job of not pulling on the back of the coat. I found several but I really like this simple design. I plan on mixing these with some more regular hooks, to hold other things.
So stay tuned for more details!
MAKE IT FROM SCRATCH!! Then post directions online so I can do exactly the same thing. Haha! We’re working on the same project.
We have an old hall tree right now, but it gets crazy when it’s covered in winter coats so I want to supplement it. Have you considered using ornate metal brackets? I think that’s what I’m going to do. You could affix them to a back board of any size/wood species (and screw hooks into that) and top them with a shelf. Then you could match the wood/finish exactly and still have some ornate, Victorian detail to boot. House of Antique Hardware has awesome bracket options:
http://www.houseofantiquehardware.com/metal-brackets-for-shelves-trellis-and-vine-iron?sc=13&category=136
I love the hooks you posted. Those are going in my house!