22 Hall Closet Organization Ideas to Conquer Your Clutter

Organizing a hall closet can feel like a thankless task and is easy to put off, even if you feel stressed out every time you open the door, and embarrassed for anyone to see it. Whether you use your hallway closet as storage for coats, shoes, linens, craft supplies, or a bonus space like a pantry or home cloffice, do your future self a favor and take the time to declutter, clean, and organize it so that it works for rather than against you. Here are some simple ideas to help you organize your hall closet and get your house in order. 

Add Farmhouse Style

Blogger Liz Marie gave her linen closet a farmhouse makeover with a coat of clean white paint, then added storage baskets for loose items labeled with chalkboard tags, a back-of-door row of hooks, and a laundry basket for convenience.

Hang DIY Floating Shelves

Casa Watkins Living added DIY floating shelves inside this peacock blue linen closet to keep towels and toiletries neat and organized.

Organize Your Linens

My 100 Year Old Home organized a large hallway linen closet by adding discreet black-and-white labels to the front of open shelving and the top right-hand corner of the built-in drawers to keep track of linens for every room in the house.

Create a Mini Mudroom

Studio DIY turned this entry closet into a mini mudroom that compensates for the home's lack of an entryway. The colorful and kid-friendly space includes a bench for putting shoes on, plus shoe storage for the whole family. The optimized space also includes shelves to store mail, sunglasses, and sunscreen and hooks for keys, bags, and coats. Bright colors make it feel fun and cheerful.

Make It Renter-Friendly

A Beautiful Mess gave this hall closet a renter-friendly renovation, no drilling or permanent hooks required. A standalone bamboo shelf, baskets to optimize built-in shelving, and removable hooks for cleaning tools keep everything in place. Plus, it can be disassembled when it's time to move out without risking your security deposit.

Set Up a Printing Station

Finding Silver Pennies gave the inside of a hall closet a DIY stencil wall treatment and turned it into a home office file storage and printer/scanner room that looks good with the door open.

Zone It Out

Modern Glam organized this hall linen closet into a multipurpose storage zone for both bedding, towels, and spare blankets and cosmetics, skincare, and toiletry items to make up for the lack of storage space in the bathroom, which features an apothecary sink with open storage. There's even a spot for craft supplies. The key to making this work is creating zones and returning everything to its proper place.

Maximize Under Stair Storage

Thistlewood Farms gave a neglected hall closet beneath the stairs a makeover with navy paint, inexpensive cubby storage with cube inserts to store cleaning supplies, and wall hooks that take advantage of vertical storage to keep brooms and a folding step stool tidy and within easy reach.

Set Up a Pantry

A small hallway closet off the kitchen can be turned into a pantry for food and cookbook storage, with simple shelving, labeled baskets, risers, and lazy susans, like this one from Neat By Meg.

Hall Laundry Closet

Emily Henderson Design turned a hallway closet into a laundry room closet, adding back-of-door storage on the double doors to house cleaning supplies.

Remove the Door

In this Denver, CO high-rise apartment from Fantastic Frank, the hall closet is a wall niche without a door, perfect for small spaces and minimalists without large wardrobes.

Use All-White Linens

Thistlewood Farms gave this farmhouse linen closet a coat of bright white paint in a high gloss finish, pruned her collection of hotel white towels, then neatly stacked them by size, resulting in a clean, minimal, and organized all-white closet that is a simplicity lover's dream.

Sprinkle in Some Pink

A Beautiful Mess organized this hall closet in a single afternoon, hanging the iron and the brooms on the wall and adding storage baskets in opaque and clear finishes and shades of white and pale pink to give the space a unified look.

Mix and Match

Casa Watkins Living organized this hall closet with simple storage solutions like back-of-door hooks for scarves, a drying mat for boots, a set of wood hangers, and a drying rack for mittens.

Keep It Open

This Stockholm apartment from Fantastic Frank turned an awkward corner of the hallway into an open closet with shelving above and below for shoes, hooks for coats and bags, and a large wall-mounted mirror that reflects light and views, making the space feel airy and light.

Label Your Linens

Breathing Room Organization + Styling kept it simple in this linen closet with white shelving and storage bins labeled to keep the baby and single mattress sheets separated and easy to find for emergency quick changes.

Build a Cloffice

Ursula Carmona of Home Made By Carmona turned a hall closet into a home cloffice with custom built and painted open shelving, drawers, and a worktop. Decorative objects, a comfortable chair, and a pendant light make the space functional and attractive enough to look good if you forget to shut the door at the end of the day.

Use Wall Hooks

Simple wall hooks add storage to this small closet from Thistlewood Farms, keeping bags and belts on display.

Outfit a Kids' Reading Nook

If you happen to have a deep and narrow hallway closet under the stairs (or elsewhere) and don't need it for coat storage, why not take inspiration from Studio DIY and turn it into a wildly colorful kids' reading nook.

Organize Your Cleaning Supplies

Breathing Room Organization + Styling turned a hall closet into a cleaning supply closet with simple white shelving and labeled white bins with bamboo tops that make everything visible and allow you to see when supplies start to dwindle so you never run out of anything again.

Keep It Simple

If you're a minimalist with a spare coat closet, skip the fancy storage bins and keep it simple like this apartment hallway closet from Fantastic Frank, with a clear floor for lining up shoes and a rod for hanging coats. The empty shelf serves as a drop spot for storing whatever you end up bringing into the house that you don't want front and center on your hall table.

Start From Scratch

Inspired By Charm tore out a dated hallway closet and hired a local contractor to build custom cabinetry to create a modern entryway mudroom with a closet cabinet that has a plug to charge the cordless vacuum, plus a bench seat and decorative peg rail shelf.

How do you organize hallway closets?

To organize a hallway closet, first take everything out and sort it by category. Next decide what the hallway closet will be used to store, be it coats, cleaning supplies, linens, or anything else. After you clean and dust the inside of your closet, add items back, keeping things you use most where it’s easiest to see and grab them, and placing less frequently used items on higher shelves. Take stock of your storage needs and add baskets, bins, hooks, shoe racks, or over-the-door organizers to optimize space so that you can keep it tidy.

What should you keep in hall closet?

What you keep in a hall closet is entirely up to you. You can use a hall closet to store coats, shoes, and umbrellas; cleaning products and tools such as brooms, mops, and vacuums; linens, craft supplies, or anything else. You can turn a hall closet into a bonus pantry, a mini home office, a kids’ reading nook, or a game board storage nook, to name a few ideas, depending on your storage needs and types of belongings.