Hanging storage
Never underestimate the importance of hanging things up. Coats, jackets, umbrellas and hats all need to be accounted for and most people have several of each, so one or two hooks in the entrance hall are really not going to be enough.
An ideal solution is the Shaker idea of a wooden strip with wooden pegs which runs right round the wall at shoulder height. A simpler version is a wooden batten with cup hooks or other hooks screwed into it. This will hold an endless number of outdoor items holds electric plugs at a (tennis rackets and so on), and even equipment such as a broom or vacuum cleaner.
In the kitchen, a metal rail fixed below the ceiling above the cooker and worktop and hung with butcher’s hooks will hold any number of utensils otherwise floundering about in unnecessary cupboards. It should be positioned so that the utensils are not hanging so low that they will brain you as you stir the soup, and not so high that you need a stepladder to get them down.
Cup hooks are the time-honored way of storing things with handles, such as cups, mugs and jugs. Don’t choose the smallest hooks but get generous-sized ones which will take big, fat handles, and set them far enough apart so that things won’t knock into each other when they are hanging at an angle.
Furniture that folds
Folding chairs and tables are absolutely invaluable in a small home.