That's right good people, I finished my back entry way and it is FRESH! 

If you're living in an old house this small, and you've got a bunch of people storing year round outdoor gear in a little space like this, well, that's hard.  My good fortune involves only me using this space, so I've spread out some. 



The mirror is for my current jackets and purse.  Very nice.



On the steps is my outbasket, it's where I throw my keys, and other things that are going outside with me.  What you see sticking out of the outbasket is a reusable grocery bag.  My husband disagrees with my use of the steps for storage, he's wrong.  I win.  Because I can find my keys.



My husband made this little coat rack and I use it for my work totes and a hanging basket for gloves, hats, etc.  The basket used to have a wicker handle but it broke.  It's not an easy size to find so I used a wire coat hanger and made a new handle.  Hey, I'm a farmer's granddaughter.  I can fix stuff.

Do you see the collage of photos above this rack?  I love collages.  In the past I cut the photos from Christmas cards and hung them on our fridge.  My husband didn't enjoy this effort so I picked up a couple pieces of sheet metal and hung them in this awkward little spot with removable adhesive.  The pictures are hung with magnets, and it's been fun to fool around with photos of friends, family, the garden and other little bits of ephemera.  When painting I realized I haven't done anything with it for a while so will spend a happy hour or so updating the photos. 

Now let's go back to you.  If your back entry is also small, but you're sharing with others, here's a suggestion to keep the chaos to a minimum: 

Keep only what's been worn that day in the space.  Designate room somewhere else for all the rest of it.  One pair of footwear, one jacket, one bag per person.  Then police the space ruthlessly.  Part of your nighttime routine will involve everyone putting their  extra stuff away.  It actually only takes everyone a few minutes and the calm created for the next morning will be well worth the effort.

With just me using this little space it can very quickly get overwhelmed with shoes and boots, especially once the weather is wet or snowy, so I can totally empathize with your pain.  We remodeled the space at the bottom of the basement stairs to serve as a mudroom, it's been a great solution for overflow.

Number of days it took me to get over the floor being blotchy.  About seven.  Don't look.  Really.