Somewhere to put things down, within two steps

Without one, the nearest flat surface in the next room becomes the dumping ground permanently. Keys, post, bags and everything else migrate to the kitchen counter or the dining table, and no amount of storage elsewhere in the house corrects it, because the problem is distance from the door rather than capacity.

The surface can be very small. A narrow console, a shelf, the top of a shoe cupboard. What matters is that it is reachable while still holding the door and that it is not already full of something else.

A mirror opposite or beside the door does more for a narrow hall than anything else available, because it doubles the apparent depth and returns light into a space that usually has none of its own.

Light the entrance properly. It is the first and last impression of the house and it is routinely lit by a single dim overhead fitting. A lamp on the console changes the whole arrival, and it is one socket away.

Hooks lower than you think, if there are children. Coats end up on the floor when the hooks are at adult height, and a second row at a metre solves a daily argument.