A Redesigned Mudroom Can Make the Entire House Run More Efficiently

If you want to improve the useful of your home, and you want to make that improvement in one of the most utilized rooms in your home, then take a long and hard look at your mudroom.  Even the name—mudroom—lacks a certain appeal, but often, we can look around our homes and see that this room could use some upgrading to make the rest of the home run more efficiently.

Mudroom Design

Look around the rest of your home.  Are there things that end up in other places because there is really not a convenient place to put them?  Are there things that you would work on, or that you would put away if their proper place wasn’t in the attic, or even in a building that you would have to walk outside to get to?  Those walks may be put off in the January, or even in July during downpour.  Often, if you had a well-designed mudroom, those things that are inconvenient to find could be kept right there.  Better design puts your mudroom out of the sight of company, but not out of the family’s mind when needed.

In most of our mudrooms, there is at least a part of a wall that is underutilized.  In many rooms in a house, a blank wall is not a bad thing, and a blank place can be a great thing.  In a mudroom however, a blank space may indicate that not all space is being utilized to maximum value.  One problem that anyone can face is having things that sit in the walkway of a mudroom creating walking and tripping hazards. A blank or even partly blank wall can solve that problem with cabinets.

Cabinets & Lockers

Perhaps your teenagers and the rest of the family keep their shoes in the mudroom when not wearing them, and that can make the rest of the house a relatively “trip free zone”, but if you have appliances in the mudroom, or if you must walk through the mudroom to access your garage, it becomes a veritable minefield and obstacle course.  A relatively easy solution is to add cabinets.  They don’t have to be big kitchen cabinets either, but small “cubbies” can store a lot of things.

Even in rooms without a completely empty wall, a half-wall of cabinets, with doors can make the entire room less cluttered, and these cabinets can match the design of the rest of the house.  Imagine a dozen, small cubbies with a pair or two of shoes in each, then tools, or an iron, or household cleaners and detergents in some of the rest of the spaces.  By taking up a tiny amount of probably underutilized floor space, you have not only made a room that is less cluttered, but you no longer have to worry about the mudroom when someone brings a guest into the house through that door.

Hooks & Poles

While you’re organizing your mudroom, you can also add hooks to hand clothing or other clothes on.  Some of these hoods can be added to the sides of the new cabinet you have built to store things in.  A well designed plan can also find other places to put hooks or poles for hangers between two cabinet spaces.

Counter Space

Often, when redesigning a mudroom, it is possible to add counter space that did not exist before.  Or, if the counter space was there, it was cluttered because there was nowhere else to put those items.  Why do you need counter space in a mudroom?  In some cases, depending on how many people may be working elsewhere, this counter space may be a great place to make a family budget or to finish homework away from other distractions around the house.

The counter space can also be a great place to repot a houseplant in the winter without getting dirt or other debris all around the kitchen or somewhere else in a home.  A counter top can be beneficial in ways a person cannot imagine—because they didn’t have that clear space before.

Under that counter space, don’t forget the drawers you can add, and the cabinet doors that you can add above for more out of site storage.  Suddenly, a mudroom that had been home to a washer, dryer, and a dozen pair of shoes strewn all over the floor can be a place that helps keep the rest of the house organized.  All by adding a few cabinets that you didn’t even consider that there would be space for.

Often, when planning to redesign or remodel part of the house, the mudroom is far down the list.  However, a well-designed remodel can make the entire household run more efficiently.