Can you post a layout?

One possibility is to eliminate the closet rod and install hooks (up high for the bigs, down low for the littles) along the back and side walls of the inside of the closet. You can put a shelf above the high hooks and put baskets on the shelf for the taller people’s things. See google here for coat closets with hooks.

A hanging shoe bag can be put on the inside of the closet door. We hung one from heavy duty Command hooks, and it’s fantastic for corralling all the mittens, hats, and scarves for our 7 kids. (My laziness is showing...I never painted the inside of the closet door. Who would see it? Ha!)

A bench could go under the window, ideally high enough and long enough that several boot trays could slide under it to catch those drippy boots.

If you have an IKEA nearby, look at their shoe cabinets. They’re fantastic for holding a lot of shoes without taking up much room. It looks like you have room enough for one of these to the right of the front door. A mirror could go above it. Some of the shoe cabinets have a shallow drawers at the top. The drawer could be used to hold keys and cell phones, (or hair do-dads, if you have a house full of girls finishing their hair at the last minute like we do. )

A small, shallow dresser or cabinet could go behind the French door, and could catch the purses, briefcases, sunblock, bug spray, (pet stuff?) Or, maybe a nine hole cubby system could go here, and each person could have a basket in the cubby for their backpacks.

Pinterest has a wealth of mudroom, entry ideas that you could google for images to inspire you, too.

I feel for you. I like to look at floor plans for fun, and often lament the lack of proper space and functional storage for families to use everyday as they head in and out the door!

I have five children and although we have a small mudroom I could not stand the messiness of 5 sets of snowsuits and sports equipment etc that overwhelmed the small room when they were out in the open on hooks. My solution was to take everything out of our front closet and pare it down to the absolute essentials for that season. Anything out of season or only occasionally worn went in a spare closet. Then I assigned one of the kids the chore of keeping all the boots and coats tidy and hung away. A stool nearby helps when they aren’t big enough to reach. I’m still working on teaching this job and often I’m the one putting things away but I do prefer it to the clutter out in the open. Good luck, I would love to see what you decide!

I would use that empty corner for built-in cubbies and baskets and I'd put a bench under the window with space for boots underneath as laughablemoments suggested.

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions! I'm intrigued by the idea of putting hooks in the closet, especially lower down, for the little ones. My main concern with some of the ones shown is that the coats on the higher hooks will cover the lower ones and then either they can't find the hooks to hang their coats on or they can't find their coats under the bigger coats! But I may try it out with command hooks before committing to anything.

I'm definitely going to look into some sort of bench that the boots or shoes can go under, that will help with the overall look of the space. I also take anything that is not in current use out of this closet and store it elsewhere, but now in the winter there is just so much more "stuff" that is being used so it becomes more of a problem.

Thanks also for the feedback about that empty corner. I was afraid it would look funny having something like that in the living room, but I guess you don't think so.

I will post a layout a little later, thanks again.

As far as the two rows of hooks go, I can show you what we did for ours. The bottom row of hooks are 38” off the floor, and the top ones are 74 3/4” off the floor. The bottom of the shelf is 76” above the floor. The spacing for the top row of hooks is 8”, and the bottom hooks are only 7” apart. The bottom hooks can be reached without much difficulty as long as the jackets above aren’t overly long. The turquoise coat on the bottom row is a ladies size large, and the only thing grazing the floor is the zipper pull. This setup has worked very well for us for about two years now, and is also right inside our front door, which is our everyday family and guest entrance combined. (Click picture to expand.)