Entryway conundrum (and a few others)

I'm pondering decorating issues since I'm down for the day thanks to what's probably/hopefully just a weird pulled muscle from all the moving. So I'm forced to sit and look at the chaos around me. We have twice the square footage here in the new apartment, which is a good thing. But it's also overwhelming because I have all these new corners/problems to figure out. Stefan commented that we'll be doing a lot of walking in this apartment - everything feels so far away suddenly!
First we have the kitchen. A total mess. I bought a frozen pizza as a back-up meal and realized I couldn't even cook it until I sat down and read our oven's instruction manual. Stefan read the dishwasher manual and ran a half-load that takes three hours and 25 minutes to run on the energy efficient cycle. That is just crazy. Crazy!
We haven't eaten at the kitchen table yet for obvious reasons. I'm trying to figure out what stuff should go where. Some things have been put away, but I know I'll end up rearranging it all in the end. I thought I knew this when I designed the kitchen...???
Ah, the living room. It is ENORMOUS! Once we bolt our storage to the walls we can unpack all those boxes and slide the couch down closer to the fireplace. We really wish the chaise were on the other end of the sofa, but oh well. We're in some serious need of side tables. Our budget's so bleak I'm half-considering slipcovering a cardboard box and slapping a tray on top. Those U-Haul size Medium boxes are looking about the right height...
Our central hall is also huge. Full of boxes, too. (slipcovered book boxes would be the right size for a bedside table... half-kidding again!) Once we figure out what we're doing in the yellow room I can unpack some of those. The rest will go to Stefan's office once we assemble his shelves. Then it will be large and empty. I think our largest Afghan rug will hit the floor here.
Looking back on the other side of the hall you can see our only two walls of real width. This hall has 8, yes 8, doors in it, so finding a spot for a closet is kind of tough. We need a wardrobe with doors you can close for our current coats. I would also like some kind of covered shoe storage/bench/shelf combination over on the glass block wall. This is tricky since we can't attach anything to the wall there. Ideally a shelf for phones, keys, purses/wallets/small lamp would be there as well as a spot to sit and put your shoes on. A hidden place to stash said shoes would be great, too. It's really hard finding something that doesn't have to be attached to the wall. I'm thinking of a small bench and tall shelf combo...hm. This post on AT was particularly inspiring with it's desk/stool/mirror/lamp arrangement. That could work with our glass block wall. Any other ideas?
At the top of our stairwell we have this behemoth. At one point it was one of three in Stefan's family hobby room growing up and structurally it shows the wear and tear of it's many lives. However, the insides are in good condition and since throwing it out would have meant having to buy something else, we kept it. There was no good place for it inside the apartment so we put it outside for our off-season coats and outdoor gear.
Our new building's stairway smells a tad funny, so we like how this beast at least shuts tightly. We had it in our last basement, filled with stuff and lots of lavender sachets. Lavender sachets are wonderful for deterring insects and keeping potentially musty places smelling fresh.

I'm glad at least the bemoth is useful. If it didn't have giant cracks and horrid wallpaper in weird spots I think we'd paint it and put it in the yellow room. Unfortunately it really is on it's last legs. Pun intended.

Need some entryway inspiration? Check out SimplyGrove, the Domino entryway pool on Flickr, and AT's entryway round up.