Girl with the Pink Toolbelt

When you enter my house through the front door, there really isn't anywhere to put your coat/purse/bag.  I have a basket that you can dump your shoes into.  But nothing for hanging things.  The nearest "coat closet" is in the kitchen and remember, I just turned that into the tornado room.  There is still a hanging bar in there for coats- but it's not convenient to the front door whatsoever.   I have this blank area at the bottom of the stairs that ends up being behind the door when it's opened.  Anything that I were to put there would have to almost be flush against the wall because if not, the door would hit it when opened or it would obstruct the area when coming down the stairs.  Building a bench or some sort of hall tree is completely out of the question.  But there is really no other place for coats as the other side walking in goes right into the dining room.   I started thinking of creative ways to have a drop off zone behind the door on the blank wall that

 When we left off on the last kitchen post, I had shown you the new lights, door trim, barn door, baseboards, and wood topped pedestal table.   I'll start with the table.  I needed to do a clear, protective coat on it since it's wood.  I had a can of wipe on poly in my garage that I have no recollection buying or what I had planned on using it for or how long I'd had it.  It made me so nervous to use it on the table top that I had just about gotten to the color that I wanted it to be and didn't want to ruin it if this poly didn't work.  So it took me forever to just bite the bullet and get it done.  I mean, what's the worst that could happen?  It came out like crap and I'd need to re-sand it and re-stain it?  Again?   Thankfully it worked perfectly- was super easy to use and looks awesome.  I ended up doing two coats, which you literally just pour onto a cloth and wipe on just like you would stain.  I let the first coat dry far longer than it said- which was