If your home represented your body, your hallway would be your arteries and veins. This is how it’s seen in Feng Shui. Your hallway isn’t just the first impression of your home, it’s where the energy flows in. It connects to and flows energy to other rooms in the home.
As a professional organiser, it’s my job to work with people to improve their homes. One room that’s sometimes overlooked by clients, but which I find so important, is the hallway.
Hallways to many are dumping grounds. A place for a pile of coats, muddy shoes that get kicked off, that Amazon box that needs flattening, the bag of things you promised you’d give to your sister when you next see her, the stack of unopened and ominous-looking letters.
Because you don’t hang out in the hallway, you might not think it’s that much of a big deal whether it’s organised or not.
But much like the hallway is your connection to other rooms, it’s also your connection to a tidy home.
Here are some tips I recommend to help you create a tidy, welcoming and stylish home that, in turn, will help you stay organised.
Consider the space/storage
If you’re able to implement all the following tips in your hallway, it must be pretty big! Before you start decluttering, moving things about or decorating your hallway, read through this entire article, perhaps do more research if required, and make a plan for your space that ties in with how you use the rest of your home.
For example, you might not need to keep large appliances such as a hoover in your hallway. When making your plan, consider not just where it makes sense to store your things, but how you and your family live and what habits you have. Try to work with your habits to make it as easy as possible to keep your hallway tidy.
How to organise your coats in your hallway
If you’re like most people, you don’t put your coats or shoes away in your wardrobe but leave them in the hallway. This is fine, but try limiting the number you keep there, to help it stay tidy. Go through every three or six months and store away any coats that are out of season. Allot one coat hook, or a couple of coat hooks to each family member, so that everyone knows where their coats are.
Storing hats, scarves and gloves
How to store yours shoes in your hallway
It’s likely everyone also kicks their shoes off at the door. The same rules apply here as before. Go through regularly and store away out of season shoes either in each person’s wardrobe or storage space in their bedrooms.
Keep a shoe rack, and designate an area or shelf for each family member. If there’s only one or two of you and your space is limited, you could have a basket instead.
Have a doormat to prevent muddy shoes from being walked into the home.
Keep your keys in your hallway
If you’re someone who regularly loses their keys, consider hanging a few hooks or putting a dish by the front door. Get into the habit of leaving your keys there as you enter your home.
Unpack your bag every day
Bags often get left by the front door. Either that or they are carried through to the living room and get left on the floor.
This is a difficult one to get into if you’re not into the habit already, but I highly recommend emptying your bags when you come home. Doing so prevents a build-up of things and means you won’t have to walk around every day with a load of stuff you don’t need.
Take a few minutes when you get through the door to walk around your home unpacking all your bags. You could keep a basket or drawer, ever in the hallway or your bedroom, for things such as your purse or items that always live in your bag. If you only ever use one bag and don’t see the point in emptying it, at least go through your bag to take things out like lunchboxes and receipts.
What to do with bags for life
We all have them. Sometimes in the kitchen, sometimes in the hallway, sometimes in every single room. Those carrier bags we think we’ll get round to using but never do. That collection that grows and grows, takes up loads of room and looks incredibly messy.
Collect all your carrier bags and bags for life now. Throw out any flimsy ones. If you have a lot of bags for life, throw those out too. If you have any plastic ones that you’re planning on using as bin bags, keep them with your sacks, and get into the habit of using them instead.
Keep a few, good quality, bags for life. Fold them neatly and keep them in the kitchen or by your front door in a drawer or shelf space. Somewhere you’ll remember to grab them from as you next leave to go to the shop.
Set up an area, and a system, for your post
A popular option with professional organisers is to create a command centre in the home – an area for family calendars, reminders, letters, to-do lists, etc. If you have one of these already, you’re likely fine. But if you’re in the habit of piling unopened letters on a stand by the front door, stop it now!
Create an area for your letters that require action. Better yet, schedule every item into your diary so you have a set time for dealing with it. Even better again, if something takes less than a minute or two, deal with it immediately upon opening the letter. And get into a habit of discarding junk mail as it comes through the door.
Organise your hallway cleaning cupboard
If you have to keep your hoover or other large electronics in your hallway, create a designated cleaning cupboard. Hang things to save space. Keep it organised so that you can get to stuff quickly.
Keep a tidy laundry cupboard
Do you keep your washing machine or dryer in your hallway cupboard? If so, try to keep that cupboard decluttered and organised. You’ll need a space for your laundry basket, somewhere for your detergents etc, and possibly shelves for folded linens if that’s where you also keep your towels and bedding etc.
Have a decluttering box/shelf
A popular recommendation among professional declutterers is to create a decluttering/charity space. This could be a shelf in a cupboard, or it could be a box somewhere. It might even be a whole cupboard in itself if necessary. This is the space where you keep things that you’re going to take to the charity shop. You can add to it over time and take it in one go when there’s enough.
The reason I say you might need a whole cupboard or a few shelves is that this space is not just for charity items. If you’re decluttering and you’re planning on selling bits, you can keep this stuff here. We often borrow things from people, so you might need a shelf for things that need to be given back to people, or that you’re giving away to people.
Think of this as your ‘in transition’ area. Check it before you leave the house to see what can be taken with you. Keep it neat and don’t let it overflow with stuff. It’s your visual reminder. Having this area means you won’t have ugly bags of things left by the front door.
Where to keep wrapping paper and cards
Your ‘in transition’ cupboard is also a great place to keep cards, gift wrap and presents. After all, they’re in transition and will most likely soon be leaving your home.
Separate your gift wrap and labels into Christmas, birthday or general. Do the same for cards. If you have a lot of Christmas stuff, you might choose to keep it in a store cupboard elsewhere so that it’s not in a prime location all year round.
If you have a lot of cards, separate them into categories such as ‘children’, ‘male birthday’, ‘female birthday’, ‘leaving cards’ etc. Keep each type in a plastic wallet or large labelled envelope and store them vertically in a box.
Use your stairs to stay organised
You can get these stair baskets that sit at the bottom of the stairs and are brilliant for keeping things that need to go up. If you’re super organised, keep one stair per family member. It’s an easy way of getting children into the habit of putting their things in their bedroom.
Keep a plant or flowers in your hallway
Your front door is likely either in your hallway or very close to your hallway, so you’ll have recently been outside when you come in. Keeping a plant or flowers in your hallway creates a nice transition between the outside and your inside space by connecting your home with nature. They’re also pretty.
If you have a long hallway, place a runner along the floor and scatter plants in various places along the length of it to help slow down the flow of energy.
Keep it light, and use mirrors
You should be able to check your reflection before leaving the house. Mirrors also help reflect the light around – brilliant for dark hallways.
If you do have a dark hallway, keep a bright bulb in the ceiling light. And have a lamp you can use of an evening to make it feel cosier as you walk through.
If you have a lot of cards, separate them into categories such as ‘children’, ‘male birthday’, ‘female birthday’, ‘leaving cards’ etc. Keep each type in a plastic wallet or large labelled envelope and store them vertically in a box.
Keep your hallway clutter-free
If you’ve followed my previous points, your hallway might have a lot of cupboard space, but it shouldn’t have too much clutter. You probably won’t use your hallway for everything I’ve mentioned above anyway.
So in general, only keep what you need to. It should feel calming and welcoming when you come through the door or walk through your hallway. If there is a lot of storage, keep these spaces organised.
Make sure doors and windows are kept free of clutter and that there is a large amount of space for you to walk through. This not only looks nicer but will help the energy enter into your home and flow easier into other rooms.
Add one or two decorative items
Adding artwork or decorative items will make your hallway feel like a home. Pick one painting, photo or ornament you love, and display it proudly. Your hallway is the first impression of your home. It shouldn’t give away too much. Much like you wouldn’t tell a stranger everything about yourself.
But don’t be boring either. Give away a hint about who you are and what guests can expect in the rest of your home.
Have somewhere to sit
Having a bench or chair in your hallway creates a place to put on your shoes and it also helps slow the flow of energy a bit. Energy enters your home through your front door and you want it to flow easily through the rest of your home at a gentle pace. A chair signals a rest point. A calm space to sit before entering the busy outside.
If you can fit a seat in your hallway and you want one, make sure you keep it clear of clutter. A chair in a hallway is a clutter danger spot. So set clear boundaries and rules about your chair with family members to protect the space.
Enjoy your hallway
If you’ve followed some of these tips, you should have a calmer, brighter and more organised hallway. Appreciate the space every time you walk through the front door and let it positively alter your mood.
