33" is really too narrow for passage anyway. How wide is that door and it it a means of egress? The door may need to be 36" if you are doing alterations.

If I'm understanding correctly, you will be down to a 33" hall and you will have closet doors that will open out into the "hall" about 20"--- Any time the doors are opened, no one can go by, creating a traffic jam. I would not even put a bench, just hooks and a shelf (that is not where someone will whack their head into it). Hope this helps!

@palimpsest so one door is the door into the living room and it's 30" wide, not including trim, and the other door, to the backyard and the means for egress, is 36" wide. But it's not the sole means of egress, inside the living room there is also another door to the back yard. Here's a picture of the floorplan of the back of the house.

@User I think I may be leaning towards just doing that! i'm really worried about it being too narrow.

I would not do anything built in wider than 12", probably just hooks, and a moveable bench.

@Mimi You could test if a bench works if you have a fairly small one. To be truthful, I think those mudrooms with benches look pretty, but wonder how often the benches get used :) I had a bench once, and it just seemed to gather stuff. Now I live in the north again and I would like a mudroom but still not sure if a bench is worthwhile. Rather than a bench, I like the idea of one of those small low stools (the rectangular ones). Currently making do with lots of hooks. In one house, I actually mounted a couple narrow baskets on the wall for mittens and gloves, which worked nicely (I am currently looking for some to mount on the wall again). I am sure there are other clever storage ideas out there too.

Can you move the mudroom back door a few feet to the left so there’s room for a real closet at the end of that mud room space?

@palimpsest @User I agree with you both that anything deeper than 12" might be risky. especially since the minimum hallway width is 36 inches.

I might look into other clever storage solutions like the baskets you mentioned. We definitely need a lot of storage because we are smack dab in the snowy midwest and with little ones and a dog there are leashes and mittens and boots and coats everywhere!

@Sara S you what, i've never even considered that. that's not a bad idea!!! I'll talk to my contractor!

If you want a big closet, with room for hanging at the end, and shelves on a side wall, you could do something like this:

I would suggest those slim shoe cabinets, like they have at ikea to store mitts, scarves, dog paraphernalia, etc. Also, I remember visiting a country house where they had a small drying rack over the radiator to hang wet mitts, and hats to dry if you are in a cold climate and have your children likely to get their clothes wet.

@Sara S if we're not too late in our renovation this is exactly what i'll ask our contractor to do. thank you so much!

and @Suzanne if our contractor thinks we're beyond this point in the renovatio i'll probably go with your and @User suggestions. Thanks everyone!