I love your bookshelf/cubby idea!!

I like the idea of making your pony wall more useful. But you need to take into account what that change will do to the room on the other side of the wall. Usually people have furniture up against the other side.

Your second question, the wall at the end of the entry step - maybe you should view the two sections of wall as a whole and put a series of large-ish pictures across them.

I was planning on leaving the back of the wall as is, just cut out the area on one side for the cubbies. And thanks for giving me the correct term for that wall. I knew it was called something but couldn't remember what it was.

I think that area would be great for extra storage, but I personally would only do it if I had sliding doors there to close off the storage. I just feel the open storage would make the space feel narrower, plus with doors closed I wouldn't have to worry about tidying up after everyone put things in and took things out. You could still keep a section open for keys and mail, etc., but you'd be able to close it off when you had company. I'm thinking of simple doors like this.

http://www.whitneybros.com/coat-locker/coat-locker/sliding-doors-storage-cabinet

Great idea for a shoe cubby, in the pony wall. That marries will with the free standing coat rack I would try under the deer head. Without a closet the space is rather begging for one, IMHO. A line of fancy coat hooks would work nicely too. If your wall, cubby has doors--no one will ever close them or no one will open it to use it. LOL. I would go with dividing the knee wall once horizontally, two heights of storage. Bottom for shoes, upper shelves for keys etc....Baskets on top shelf, may work or may feel tight in that space pulling them out..give one a try and decide. Back in the day that wall would be a planter. Now that I look at yours and cannot see what is lined up on top it makes me think that was to avoid the inevitable clutter that a flat surface attracts. Makes me tempted to suggest you add a steepled architectural detail to it, depending on the effect from the living room.

chickadee2_gw, it's interesting to me that you think it would make the space feel narrower without doors. In my mind, I would think that it would feel more open, since there's more open space involved, even if it is just between-the-studs type storage. The kids are grown and out, so it's just us. Though it would mean convincing my husband to use them, instead of laying something on the surface, defeating my purpose.

Arcy_gw, the door to the coat closet is in the hall around the corner. My husband dabbles in photography, and I like graywings123's idea of treating that wall as a whole and hanging largish pictures there. And you are right, that surface serves as a catch all at the moment. Right now there's mail, the dog leash, a bag with the neighbors' keys, tools, a book to return.. you get the idea. If I could get those things in baskets, and train my husband to use them, I could use that for something decorative. Or just a clean space haha

I'm also thinking it could make the space feel narrower. While it's a good idea in theory, I would worry that having various items in the cubbies you'd create would make the space feel a bit visually cluttered. Right now it's a clean look, but once you add shoes, books, games - or even baskets to hold those things - the visual weight of the space is going to increase and you'll have a more "tight" feel to the space. I completely get wanting to get the most storage bang for the buck, but is storage what you really want to see upon first entering your home? Just s thought.

That makes sense on why it would feel narrower. I wish I could just remove the wall but it wouldn't make sense to do it with the layout. Oh well

You could look for a dresser style table for the large expanse of wall beneath the deer head. Something along these lines would fill the space nicely and provide a lot of storage. Plus I think it's just a great look!

How about a bench or church pew on that wall?

CL often has church pews for pretty cheap and their interesting and usually very well made.

I would also suggest a bench or church pew, or narrow console at best. There isn’t that much open walkway at the end of the one step, so I wouldn’t put in a furniture piece as wide as a dresser. Love your idea about the pony wall!

It seems like a really deep pony wall for just dividing the space. I'd make certain there is nothing inside it, like an old brick planter they covered with sheetrock :-)

I wouldn't like displaying my shoes in the entry so would want something covered - bins never seem to stay as neat as they should, but what about a few drawers? Maybe some smaller ones at the top so you can just drop in your keys, etc. and bigger ones on the bottom for shoes?

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All of the houses in this neighborhood have that wall so I don't think there's anything in it. We're on a slab, so I know it's not a gateway for any type of ductwork. The only thing that might be in there would be electrical, though I'll have to pull the couch away to see if there's even an outlet there.

i would absolutely make it into storage of some sort! i think your husb will be able to get into the habit of using a basket (or drawer) since they'll be right there!!

I am going another route.....I know you said your couch was on the other side of the pony wall. What if you took out the entire pony wall and cut the step back to just inside the door.. enough to just step on to get down into your room. Then you could put something on the wall under the deer head and not having the pony wall will open your room up. Now I am saying this without seeing a picture of your living room so maybe would not be feasible. By doing this, you could have a small bench with lid for shoes on the deer wall.

I have to show you what it was like before we changed it. The step that you see previously came out at an angle. They had laid the tile just right so that when you walked in the door, you couldn't tell there was a step there. I actually had a friend fall to the ground! That was my biggest reason for hating it, the other was that you couldn't put something there if you wanted to. That whole thing is solid concrete but I insisted that it be cut away, and the edge of the new step had to have some kind of noticeable difference so people wouldn't fall.

Everyone has given me a lot to think about, and I want to thank everyone for bringing up things that I hadn't thought of.