A mudroom is a space inside the back door of your home that allows your family to drop coats, keys, mail, backpacks and shoes, designed to handle the dirt and mud and snow and pets and messes that life brings with it. Keeping these items in one place prevents the mess from moving past the threshold, further into your home. When designed well, a mudroom makes messes easy to clean, items easy to find, and life becomes that much easier.
Locker Gawker
I love to design custom lockers for a mudroom space because lockers allow everyone to have their own area for storing the items most often used outside the home. An adult might use their locker for charging their phone and keeping their umbrella and coat, while a child might benefit from easy-access to their backpack, soccer cleats, and lunch box. And if there is enough height in the mudroom space, then closed storage above the lockers for storing seasonal items is a wonderful addition to your organizational needs. Whatever is stored inside, effective family organization is founded on keeping similar items together. Closed lockers allow for whatever chaos is stored within to be concealed by a beautiful door, stylish venting and elegant detail.
EXTRA, EXTRA, Feet All About It!
A wall of lockers in a small space can sometimes feel austere and heavy, so I like to complement that door with a mesh (or otherwise open) shoe storage drawer underneath. A mesh or perforated surface on the drawer fronts combines airiness and style with the function of ventilating the shoe drawer for um… aroma purposes. The combination of open and closed storage keeps the room from feeling too formal and welcomes you in with charming detail at the end of every day!
Take a Seat
Seating in this area, whether as part of the locker system or as a separate bench makes for an easy place to remove or put on shoes. A place to sit also creates an opportunity for softness in a space otherwise furnished with hard surfaces. Cushions and pillows bring in texture and pattern while creating a comfortable place to begin and end each day.
Switch it up, Buttercup!
Flooring choices in this space should keep easy clean up in mind. Brick, tile, and hardwood are excellent choices. This space also creates an opportunity to have fun with pattern and color, even simply changing the direction of the flooring is a way to distinguish an area that can look too utilitarian without some kind of playfulness. A home needs lightness and personality, and the flooring choices in your mudroom is an impactful way to add these traits to your home’s personality!
Grand Central Station
If you’d like the option of really putting this space to work for your various needs, consider the traffic flow of the people coming and going into your home and what their needs are. Is this the main entrance and exit closest to the garage? Then a cabinet or hook for keys and a charging station for phones and tablets might be helpful. Does the dog use this door as an entry point? Perhaps a pet station in the mudroom will serve you well with food, water, the kennel, or leash hooks nearby. Are the kids always off to play outside or does the family need a place to refill their water bottles? Consider a wall-mounted drinking fountain or filling station. And many homes no longer contain a coat closet at the entry, so extra wall hooks or rod storage in the mudroom can accommodate the coats and purses of your guests, especially if you like to entertain. Your mudroom should work for you and your needs, so keep this space in mind when you are thinking about how you want to really use your home!
Mudrooms are one of the most valuable and helpful places in the home, and are highly sought after by home buyers, so keep this investment in mind when building. With some thought and planning, this space can function as the epi-center of the home where it will serve your family well for many years to come!
Love,
Alli
