based on just this???

Okay I would never close in a 5’ wide hall to mkAnd we need pictures and some more info.e it 3’ wide what is the point since 3’ IMO is too narrow. What do you want to store there , why open shelving at all if storage is the purpose.

Here are photos. Very hard to explain, but the west end of our house is like a maze with three bedrooms and two hallways. The first two photos show the two hallways, one leading to two side-by-side bedrooms and the other leading to the master. The third picture shows the living room side with the weird L-wall that partly defines the hallways and also blocks from view the side-by-side bedroom doors. To the left of the L wall is an opening and to the left of the opening is the back of a coat closet. The coat closet, in addition to holding coats, blocks the view of the master bedroom door. None of the walls line up.

Our plan--and we've looked long and hard at trying to come up with something--is to convert the coat closet into a shallower linen closet, which we need badly. The L-wall goes away completely. In its place, we want to build a 5-foot wall sandwiched by shelves/cupboards. The sandwich will line up with the front and back of the new linen closet.

We'd also like to add shelves/cupboards on the other side of the hallway leading to the master bedroom. A 36" hallway fulfills the minimum ADA requirements.

Right now, we're thinking a 50-50 combination of shelves/cupboards for the living room side of the sandwich wall. The hallway storage will likely be more cupboards than shelves...depends on what we decide to store there.

Hope that helps.

Do you intend to live there a long time? I am thinking your hall will be too narrow for someone using a walker or wheelchair? For now you could put something removable there however.

We can play with hall width a bit. Or just put shelves on one side of hallway. This is our retirement home, so wheelchair is a possibility. That's why we looked up American Disabilities Act (ADA) recommendations, and guidelines say 36" minimum for hallways.

Minimum doesn't mean it's best, just barely able to work. Post a full floor plan and you will likely get much better suggestions for how to reconfigure your space. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Removing your coat closet means no where for coats to go.

IMO it is impossible to get a feel for where you think you can widen the hallway.

Good photos. Please add a measured floor plan. Do you have any 12 inch deep bookcases or shelves that you can rehearse putting stuff on?