This family may not have a big entryway but they have a wide staircase which they turned into a mudroom of sorts with tons of storage for every family member. See how great it looks now:

Even seeing other people get organized makes me feel good. I imagine these cubbies will fill up a lot more over time and not look quite as pretty, but what a great way to maximize this space along the stairs.
This project was done by organization specialists California Closets who, as you can tell, do much more than traditional closets (and in many more places than California). You can see more entryway inspiration on their website including their 6 Organizational Tips for an Inviting Entryway.

(Images: California Closet, used with permission)

Commercial Flour Sa...
Love!
I probably wouldn't have gone with white on the surfaces where one puts shoes, but other than that, clever idea!
My heart literally fluttered when I saw this. GENIUS!
ooo, great job, I love it! We have a huge house, and plenty of room, but this is just lovely, even with room to spare!
oh, hell yes.
Great Idea! I love it :)
It's beautiful!
My inner housewife, however, saw only those tiny gaps between the bottom of the shelf and the top of the step. She doesn't ever want to have to clean those. :/
Brilliant.
Lovely. Though I probably would have eliminated the gap as gwgg said (hello dust bunnies and lost toys...). It's hard to say from the angle, but I might have continued the unit as a bookshelf under the whole window for continuities sake.
None of those cubbies are long enough to hang a jacket in if those shelves aren't adjustable. Otherwise, it's a great idea.
awesome!
Amazing
Brilliant! Love it!
I love it! I would have gone even further and added doors too. Great idea.
I wish our basement stairs were wide enough to do this!
I love this, too! It is actually a perfect solution for our house (though I too would want to eliminate the spaces between the shelves and the stairs-- I will not be crouching on the steps with the vacuum house, thank you very much). The min living area of our house is up a flight of steps, but the entry is at the bottom of these steps, so on the way out or is, the steps are the last or first place you come too, and the tiny shoe shelf and small rack of coat hooks at the bottom is is not cutting it. I love the idea of an individual cubby for each member on the family as well-- maybe we'll end the "30-seconds-until-the-school-bus-comes" shoe and coat scramble once and for all!
I wish I had a stairway wide enough for this - love it!
This is so awesome and practical! I want it in my house too!
Wonderful. Never gonna happen with our staircase, BUT that's awesome.
This is lovely
It looks great! It would be a complete mess at all times at our house, but it looks awesome at hers! I think it's a pretty smart idea. You guys must be so happy!
This is terrific - a good use of space and great looking.
I achieved a quite similar effect very cheaply and easily with four boards and some 1x3. I screwed 1x2 s across the vertical wall at the bottom of the my stairs (left in the picture) at the level of the top of each step. This formed the left hand support for a shelf. Then, placed a horizontal board that stretched from the top of that support to the back of the step. The step serves as the support on the right side. That gives you shelves (and eliminates that gap). I hung some hooks on the wall above it. I nailed the board to the 1x3 on the left, but it's just resting on the step - no nails.
After a couple of years - just to make it look more polished and add a little more vertical support - I cut boards to the height of the stair riser and put them just in front of the steps. I used glue top and bottom and a couple of screws in the top.
It is perfectly sturdy and has worked well for us for several years. It looks nice, though it's not as polished looking as the one shown. On the other hand, it was achieved with minimal carpentry and very cheaply.
A reasonable idea badly executed. Slapping together a bunch of prefabbed stuff, leaving gaps to catch dirt and who knows what else at the steps, open joints and probably plastic coated particle board. High priced and poor workmanship. How creative! $1000, please!
I agree with gunis - this could have been built so much better.
That gap between the steps and the first shelve is awful. So much dust and yuck will gather there.
*shelf
I think the idea is really great, but I do agree with some of the previous comments that the execution could have been better.
smart!
love.simple and nice
Eeek! I can't wait to build something like this in our new house!
don't like it. I too hate the gap. and who wants to see dirty kids shoes thrown in there, the backs of the cubbies would have dirt scuffs al over it, can't hang a jacket in there so what is the point of putting everything in there and your coat in a closet somewhere else?
Awesome use of space! Really sute layout too!
A once a week/month swipe w/ a magic eraser will take care of any scuffs
Some people care more about visuals than easy cleaning, and I have to admit, the gap *looks* pretty cool. Might be less damage to the pretty stair treads too, if they ever want to take it out.
If they gap every gets annoying they could just put in a bit of trim too.
Kaete, good idea about adding trim. I think this looks nice enough. Yes, white will scuff, and maybe it's not fully custom-made, but gosh, people, they have kids, they have stuff, and now their entryway is a lot neater than it used to be. Not everyone has the luxury of endless free time & the skill to build something entirely from scratch with the highest quality materials, nor the money to do so, at least not money they want to see go to waste when a beautiful and expensive piece goes through the inevitable wear and tear of children. Kudos to them, they should be proud of this project.
Awesome! Can never get enough of Before and Afters.