The humble mudroom is among the top requirements of buyers looking for a home. A mudroom serves as the transition space between people coming in or going out of the house: shedding outerwear, dropping backpacks, picking up dry cleaning to drop off, hopefully wiping their feet, and, if you’re lucky, generally making your household operations run more efficiently.
Whether you’re starting from scratch or hoping to update your entryway into an efficient mudroom, take a look at the following ideas for making it happen.
The not so hidden secret to arriving at that blissful state where “everything is in its place” is to provide a place for everything and then making sure everyone knows where their things belong.
Outfit your mudroom with custom storage that includes a spot for each member of the family. Design a custom system of cabinets and cubbies so that each kid has a hook for their coat, a tray for their boots, and anything else your specific family needs.
Include a locker-style cabinet tall enough to corral hockey sticks, or integrate a bulletin board or sleek metal dry erase board into the plan to leave each other notes or to scribble reminders to bring the trumpet to school on Tuesday.
In a climate like Minnesota’s, the quickest way to tell the time of year is to see what particular debris is being dragged in from the sidewalk. Little bits of fall leaves, ice-melting rock salt, or slowly-melting mounds of slush.
You can’t change the seasons, but you can keep the mud from invading your house. Use the accurately-named mudroom to make the transition from outdoors to indoors a clean one. Provide a weather-resistant rug, line cabinets with trays for wet footwear, and include a bench in your customized plan so people have no excuse not to sit down and take off their shoes.
Turning an entryway into a functioning mudroom likely involves the addition of customized storage including a combination of cabinetry and shelving to suit your needs. When making your plan, be sure to take advantage of vertical space and continue the cabinets overhead. You may not even know what to store in this bonus storage space, but chances are very good you’ll never regret too much storage.
It’s not only dirt and outdoor gear that needs to be shed in a mudroom, but the mail, packages, and the dog’s leash too. Think of your mudroom as a physical place where you come into your house and turn your attention from outside to inside the home.
Provide a place to wipe the dog’s feet and a place to keep towels on hand to do so. Include a freestanding or integrated table with trays or hooks for keys, mail, and your purse. Keep a hidden recycling bin nearby so junk mail doesn’t make it past the door.
No part of our wardrobe is so seasonal as outerwear, and in some places with four distinct seasons and a long, cold winter, people end up gathering a lot of different coats and jackets, hats, umbrellas, snow boots, and rain boots. The list could go on.
Use well-thought-out custom storage in your mudroom to make space for a rotation of on and off-season gear. Say goodbye to the down parka in the spring by moving warm coats out of everyone’s cubby or locker to a closet with a hanging rod across the room. Tuck away scarves and mittens in a high cabinet for at least a few months and pull out the sun hats and baseball caps for now.
Often it’s powder rooms that get the “jewel box” treatment. The idea is that a small room like a powder room is the perfect spot for decor you’d never be brave enough to try anywhere else. Consider this an argument for applying that same logic to the mudroom.
You will pass through the mudroom much more often than you’ll likely use the guest bath, so give yourself permission to turn it into a place that makes you happy. Splurge on the wallpaper you’d never be able to justify in the living room or choose bold tile for the floor that simply wouldn’t work in a bathroom. Include a custom mirror, hang a piece of art, or invest in a knockout light fixture.
Designing your own mudroom can be intimidating even if you know what you want. Harkraft has years of experience and know-how, and our design professionals can help you work through the options. We supply a variety of custom storage solutions like laminate cabinet systems and wire storage, custom mirrors, and more. Contact us today to find out more.
