This hat and coat rack, with a special drawer for shoes below, has been in my family for many years. This elegant piece of furniture, which had  once seemed to occupy hardly any space at all in a substantially spacious house, many years later, in a more compact home , had caused me some grief.   The problem was that with downsizing , we had to hold on only to furniture which would, firstly, be of practical use, and secondly, fit the reduced space. But unable to part with a ch