Wherever you hang your hat (or coat), that’s your home. No modern dream home is complete without a dazzling, eye-catching coat rack - and there is plenty of options to choose from. Here are 18 coat racks that are unafraid to hang up traditional designs and do something a little more creative and unexpected.

Images: tc studio and elsewheres.

It is not hard to see how the designers came up with the idea for these metal wall-mounted coat rack hooks. If you want your hallway to look like the aftermath of a Godfather-style disagreement, these Knife Hooks (which are screwed into the wall rather than stuck in) will be ideal. And for a slightly less intimidating take on the same theme, you could try these wall-mounted Dart Hooks, held firmly in place by their screw-head tips.

Images: Die Electric and Bouf.

Here is a hook with a message - namely, “Turn The Lights Off When You’re Done”. Keen to wean the modern world off its electricity supply, designer Scott Amron has created a range of fun way to encourage people to reach for the Off switch, including this fully-working Light Switch Hook. Similarly multi-purpose, the Shed Hook is designed to hold your keys, bags, mail and gloves as well as your coat.

Image: Desu Design.

When not in use, the Symbol Coat Rack lines your wall like a colorful LED-dotted appliance, encouraging you to concoct some appalling fable about having computerised your whole house when visitors call by. If they want to hang their coat, your lie is found out: each of the colored strips cunningly slides out into a hook. Also available in monochrome aluminium, if metal is your thing.

Images: Cooper Hewitt Museum and Design3000.

Maybe you feel coat racks are too regimented and get in the way of your creative urges. In which case, why not try building one? The Ivy and Häkeln racks come in modular form, and it is up to you to decide how and where they spread out over your hallway. Wind them around your existing furniture, paint pictures, spell out rude words - it is completely up to you.

Image: Stolenwood.

Half Wild West and half Indian Rope Trick, the Catching The Wild coat rack is a startling sight. It’s constructed from steel and polyester rope formed into a remarkably convincing lasso. If you feel like all your coats are starting to get away from you, this is just the thing.

Image: Etsy.

But however startling a floating rope is, it is nothing compared to this. The gruesomely-named Dismembered Baby Doll Coat Rack doesn’t seem content to wait for your coat - it is reaching out to snatch it from your grasp. This is not a piece of furniture to accidentally put your hands on when the lights are off, unless you are of a highly serene disposition.

Images: Artful Home and BanalExtra and TFTS.

It seems there’s a coat rack for every profession. For the gardener, the Late Autumn rack provides a reassuringly familiar sight (with no danger of accidentally stepping on the wrong end). Writers are bound to take note of this Oversized Pencils rack. And for those with a penchent for driving cars or spreading their inner workings out over the garage floor, the Gear Stick Coat Rack should elicit a grin of approval.

Image: Vitamin D(esign).

At first glance, it looks like someone has taken an axe to this coat rack - but look closer. Beautifully carved from maple, the Coat Range is in fact a line of mountain peaks, the natural grain of the wood adding a subtle sense of perspective. Crafted from excess cut sheets of week, these Grand Teton inspired pieces of furniture provide a scenic view to hang your hat on.

Images: VivaTerra and Design Within Reach.

The best designers know the value of imitating nature. With the Entwined Root Coat Stand, the intention is not to stray too far from the original material, leaving it up to the coat-owner to work out where the hooks are. The Twist coatrack is a much more regular and predictable double-helix arrangement, yet still highly evocative of intertwined branches (the prongs themselves are of beech, while the binding is steel and plastic).

Image: Unless.

Yet half the fun is finding wholly new designs - and it’s unlikely Nature will be coming up with something like the HangUp rack anytime soon. Fashioned from sustainably grown hoop pine plywood, this rack comes complete with recesses for hats, gloves or shoes - and a hint of traditional Japanese architecture.

Images: Garsnas and Notch Design.

And finally, two racks that are unashamedly modern. Notch Design’s Toda has a series of sinuous fold-out pegs complete with a central hole to thread your scarf through. And the gloriously minimalist Buss 4562 is a tiny-footprint (or the wall equivalent) coat rack in stained or lacquered birch studded with stainless steel hooks and knobs. You may want to label it for the benefit of guests!