If there’s one thing we could do with more of in our homes, it’s storage. A clutter-filled home creates an untidy look and doesn’t make a great impression on visitors. Want to make a good impression from the moment someone walks through your door? Start with the hallway. 

A well-decorated hallway can set the style for your home, as well as being your secret space for maximizing storage. Invest in some slick new hallway furniture pieces and declutter your home. 

A coat stand may seem like an old fashioned piece of hallway furniture to have in your home, but they’re making a comeback. You can pick up coat stands in many different styles, including modern wooden and metal varieties and those with a classic touch. Coat stands are also able to be combined with other storage solutions to help you make the most of the available space in your hallway. Having a coat stand stops you throwing your coat over the sofa or banister when you get home and could offer extra storage for shoes or your umbrellas too.

Nothing gives off a worse impression than multiple pairs of shoes littering your hallway. Shoe storage can make all the difference to how your hallway looks and gives you somewhere practical to store your shoes. Disguised as cool cupboards or stylish sideboards, shoe storage pieces can add character to your hallway. Shoe cabinets also make great surfaces to place lamps, letter trays, and other essential pieces. If you still struggle to store all of your shoes away, you might want to try some other storage hacks to clear up the clutter in your home. 

Shelves are often overlooked in hallways, but a well-placed shelf can help you in more ways than you realize. Placed up high, they can be a great place to keep some stylish storage boxes featuring items you want to keep out of the way. Shelves that are lower down are great areas to place plants and home décor items to dress up an otherwise dull hallway. Rather than feeling resigned to your hallway fate, dress it up using some creative hallway decorating ideas and make it a space that you look forward to coming home to at the end of the day. 

Image Credit: Flickr

Console tables are an attractive and affordable item of hallway furniture. A well-placed console table can be an ideal place to create a hallway feature piece, with various console table styles available to suit your tastes and available space. Console tables offer some subtle storage solutions, with even the most basic of varieties featuring drawers. Use them to hide away keys, change for the delivery guy and other items that would otherwise be left to clutter up some other area of your home. Many people use console tables as a place to store fresh flowers, which can be used to create a welcoming atmosphere for those who walk through the door.

Blanket boxes have multiple uses. Rather than placing them at the end of your bed or under a window, they can make a useful and decorative feature in your hallway. Blanket boxes can be adapted to benches, which are perfect for hiding away shoes, tools, cleaning products and anything else you’ve run out of space to keep. From ornate designs to simple styles, a blanket box is a surprising piece of home furniture that could be right at home in your hallway. 

As most hallways tend to be on the petite side, it can be a reason to deter you from putting effort into decorating yours. However, you shouldn’t let size matter. Clever use of color by embracing bright hues or washes of neutral shades can make a space feel bigger and brighter. Keeping your hallway simple with a few stylish furniture pieces can be an easy way to transform it, while also keeping the space free from clutter. It might take some planning and careful consideration, but you can find some great ideas by browsing Pinterest and Instagram. 

Despite being one of the smallest areas of your home, it is the first place that will welcome you after a long day. Create the right atmosphere by clearing out the clutter and investing in some useful and on-trend storage pieces. Looking for your next project? Why not turn your attentions to the outside with these five ways to make the exterior of your home look stunning. This way, you’ll have something great to look at on the outside of your home, as well as the inside.