Drop Zone/Office Vs. Mudroom

11 years ago

Hello all.

I am sort of a newbie but really more of a long term lurker who has migrated from kitchens to building a home. I spent countless hours on there learning while we were doing a modest kitchen upgrade but never posted since we are still not quite finished (appliances - they will come next year as we are prepping to sell).

So a little background. Currently live in a 1450 sq foot poorly laid out ranch (unless you are looking to buy - then it's fabulous). We are looking to build in the next 2 years so I've started researching since we are planning on building a forever home and I don't want to miss anything that would torture me for life!

The plan is a 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath home (about 1800 sq. ft or so) with a flex space (doubt we'd ever use a formal dining room) that we'd use more as an office I think? I want a mudroom for sure (2 boys ages 7 and 9 and a dog - lots of sand, dirt and the usual sticks, stones and various other treasures that come in with them). I definitely NEED a drop zone as currently it's part of the kitchen counter which is none to big and it drives me nuts - the amount of papers that come home from school is nothing short of amazing. I'd like to fit a washer, dryer, sink, chest freezer and cubbies in it but I don't know about the drop zone. Would that be more functional in an office where you'd put mail - school papers or would it be best in a mudroom type layout? Currently my washer and dryer are in a 1/2 bath that is 5x7 (I kid you not) - I HATE IT.

Any thoughts on that? I've seen several floor plans that are close but they don't always give dimensions and I'm having a hard time visualizing how big is big enough for that stuff. I'm kind of thinking if I had a drop zone in the mudroom maybe I wouldn't need the flex space as an office?

Thanks for any of your input! This site has been so helpful. I've already bookmarked several things that I don't want to forget when time gets closer.

Sorry this ended up being pretty wordy!

Comments (5)

gone_south
11 years ago
We are combining all those functions in the house we are building. Between the house and the garage is a generous, triangular room that is roughly 400 square feet. Cabinets are going in this week, so I should know shortly if what we planned works as intended.

When you exit the kitchen/living area, you go through the mudroom to the garage. From the kitchen to the garage is a little less than 6' on the short wall (between the doors to those parts of the house). The short wall has a window, and the wall opposite it is much longer and has two double-wide windows and a door to the patio. This door is the shortest path between the house and our barn (horse farm). Along this wall will be desks and filing cabinets. It will be a drop zone for mail and bills and paperwork, and our printer will be located here. We use laptops and the printer will be on an airport station so we can work from any room of the house and keep the mess and noise of the printer in the office area of our mudroom. This wall is about 14' long (not counting the door, which is at an angle).

Along the wall between garage and mudroom are the washer, dryer, sink, cat genie, and cabinets and countertop space. We don't have a linen closet in the master, so we will store linens here in the laundry area. This wall is about 28' long.

The wall between the kitchen/living area and the mudroom has the "mudroom" function with cubbyholes, hooks, and bench. Also in this wall is a large closet for coats and boots, opening into the mudroom. A generous pantry is located behind the bench and cubbyholes and opens into the kitchen. And a small broom closet at then end of the wall opens into the space facing the short wall, where you travel from kitchen to garage.

There is a generous amount of space in the middle of the floor, which may be left open, may eventually have a table or a church pew. I need to spend some time with the space once we move in to be sure.

Our house is about 1800 square feet on the main footprint, not counting this mudroom or the garage.

We hope that this area keeps all the mess of living out of the main house and is a very utilitarian room. We went with the new, large pattern Formica and solid oak (non-custom) cabinets in this area, saving the $$$ over higher-end materials to put into less utilitarian parts of the house. (Formica here let me have built-ins in the study.)

Hope this helps.
kirkhall
11 years ago
Gone South, have you posted your layout before? I'd love to see it. It is hard finding "smaller" layouts on this site. Lots of really big ones.
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Oh wow! Thanks for posting your mudroom design with the 3/4 bath and office. I want the same thing but couldn't find anything to compare what was in my head to something I could find online to put in my notes. EVERY single plan I see is the office is connected to the bathroom and it's usually a half bath and the exterior door is so far from the mudroom that I couldn't see why there was a mudroom to begin with. I also want a door in between the living areas and the mudroom area so it can be closed off. I know how my 3 older boys are. I also have a 4th boy who is still a baby, so it will get it's fair use. I would also rework the door to open to the freezer rather than toward the drop zone. In our house we want the garage, mudroom and office at the back of the house since I like a plan that features a symmetrical front elevation. Of course, I like balance in everything. LOL
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We used Plain & Fancy cabinetry. We have a mudroom with built in cabinets and a bench adjacent to the kitchen, but we actually ended up with a desk in the kitchen. I needed to have the phone, laptop, and drop area there for convenience. It does get messy but it's better than the mail ending up on the counters. What helps our area is a window at the desk. We do have a built in file cabinet to the left, which is great for keeping track of kids papers, bills, etc. I am very happy with the desk. Honestly, though, I am the only one who sits there. When the kids want to do homework they end up at the island. But at least my island doesn't have mail on it! We have a cabinet beside our clean up sink with 4 recycle bins. I thought it was a silly idea pushed by the contractor, but I have gotten to really appreciate it. For some reason, my family had a difficult time carrying the recyclables out to the garage. But they have no problem pitching them in the special indoor bins. The kitchen table is in the foreground of this desk picture: This is a little further to the right showing how the desk ties into the kitchen. The shelving to the right of the desk holds cookbooks. You can also see a tiny bit of the mudroom/bench area to the left where the backpacks end up: And just to show how it ties into the rest of the kitchen with the island where the kids prefer to spread out their homework, this is just a little further to the right of the desk: Hope this helps. Good luck to you!
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I really appreciate the feedback! We've been working on this plan for almost a year, but very gradually. There are some issues with the floor plan that I didn't see because I've been staring at it so long, so thank you for your fresh eyes. Also, please note that I've ignored all the furniture in here--I just assumed that we'd get dimensions worked out once we have all the rooms positioned. mrspete - thank you for the comments! My responses: - I'd move the garage door a scootch towards the washer /dryer. I had that idea as well, but wasn't sure if it'd be better to keep the traffic going in a straight line. If it's not a problem to make people curve around, I'd like to move the garage door up to adjacent to the w/d and then I could have cubbies below that door. What do you think? - I'd remove the door between the mud room and the rest of the house. I requested that door. It's to keep dogs in the mud room when I want to contain them (I have a pit/lab mix who loves to kiss everyone and a corgie who is afraid of loud noises, so sometimes they just need a little time out). - You definitely need to flip the bedroom door; note that when you walk into the room, you'd be squished against the wall. Definitely. - How wide is your master bath vanity? Two sinks in that area look cramped. I sent comments back to the architect last week and asked them to move the vanity back to the wall adjacent to the closet. It will be 5' long and have one sink, maybe an elongated one. I will use the area where the vanity currently is for some built-in storage. - Still on the subject of doors, I'd move the dining room exterior door up a bit so it's right by the desk area. Yes, we will fix that. - The kitchen looks "off" to me -- way off, in fact -- and I can't really say why. The storage is at the wrong end: That I can see. Ideally you'd want your pantry and refrigerator located near your garage entrance ... so you'd be able to come in and put our things away without traversing the length of the kitchen ... and you'd probably rather have the bar on the end nearer the living room. But there's something else, and I think it's tied into the being too far towards one end ... and most of the empty counter space, which would be good work space, being crammed towards the L -- not a space where anyone wants to work. I suggest you take the kitchen to the kitchens thread. Edited: I will bring up these points with our architects. I had thought about moving the "nook" up into the dining area and then switching the bar and pantry/frig wall, but my husband rejected that.
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Is it normal to lose sleep over small details??? Yes. I think I'd prefer it as a straight line, and remember to leave a space for a wastebasket/recycle bin and a shredder for the mail. I was also going to ask about trash and recycling -- trash and a system for sorting mail are the two top priorities in such a spot. Stopping paper clutter as it enters the house is a big deal. Alternate to the shredder to be considered: We don't have a shredder, but we have a "shred box" (I'll tell you my secret: It's a 12-pack beer box covered in contact paper -- it's exactly the right size to contain paper). Once a quarter our Credit Union has a "shred day", and we go to toss the contents of the box into their commercial shredder. We like going: they have food (like pizza or Chick-fillet sandwiches) and door prizes. Wow, do I sound dull. As for straight line vs angle ... I guess I'd give a slight nudge to the straight-line concept because 1) corner cabinets have deep, dark recesses where junk can accumulate, and 2) corner cabinets are more expensive. But my preference here is quite small. Other things to consider keeping in this area: - Kleenex ... hey, don't laugh. - A mirror for checking your hair before you go out the door (maybe inside a cabinet door?) - A cabinet for various canvas bags -- big, heavy bags ... reusable grocery bags ... empty backpacks. - A box of donation things. Clothes you intend to take to Goodwill, that coffee mug that no one really likes, etc. Assign a place for these things to accumulate. - Hangers for extra keys (inside the cabinet) - Is this area housing coats and shoes? I showed the layout to some people who were horrified by the "wasted space." And now I'm horrified at the thought of losing precious organizational space! Yeah, well, people here are always horrified by small, non-optimized things. I don't think the space is "wasted", but I don't think the drop zone -- well thought-out as it may be -- is located in a very good spot. By definition, this is a "drop spot". A place for miscellaneous clutter to accumulate. First, this spot is nowhere near an exterior door ... I'm not convinced that the kids will carry their things to this spot instead of just dropping them as they enter the house. This spot is dead-center of the house, where it's visible from most of your living areas. I don't think this spot will remain neat and clean, and I would be annoyed at having it so visible. Which door is your everyday entrance? I think you could set up a (smaller than this) drop spot near either one ... and I think location trumps larger size. The blank wall without upper cabinets will have a bulletin board. I think I'd rather have magnetic paint, which would make the whole wall a place to accumulate ... but it wouldn't look so much like a bulletin board. I use a wall calendar! Me too. That would also give you room for some shallow wall shelves to use as a charging area, Love the idea of shelves to get the phones, etc. "up and off the countertop". Last thought: I haven't heard a single word about your personal needs for your own individual family, and that should be key as you make these plans. What do YOU need to store in this area? Picture yourself walking out the door ... do you need a place to set down your coffee mug while you gather your keys, sunglasses, etc.? Will this area house a collection of cookbooks? Will you store cards and stamps here? Do you need a hook for a dog's leash? Will you store candles or batteries or light bulbs in this area?
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autumn.4
Original Author
11 years ago
Gone south I'd love to see it too! It sounds like its laid out perfectly for all of those things. I am torn between keeping the study not so desky so we could use it as a sitting area too or maybe for guests until we have the basement finished. It seems if you go under 1800 sq. ft. you lose a foyer or any kind of entry/mudroom as well as a half bath. :(

I would love to see pics if you wouldn't mind sharing as we are looking for something around 1800 sq ft also.
gone_south
11 years ago
Haven't posted any pics before and don't have an image of the plans electronically, but I took a pic of the mudroom portion with my iphone and will hope that my attempt to post it here works.

{{gwi:1444156}}

The house is 2200 sq ft when you add in this 400 sq ft mudroom (neither of these figures includes the unheated garage). The 400 mudroom space includes closets and pantries at the top of the picture, where the mudroom bumps up to the house.

We designed our study with a closet and a window, so it counts as a bedroom if we resell and someone wants to use it that way. So technically a 3 BR house. But we are using it as a 2BR: master, guest, plus study with built-ins.
autumn.4
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you very much Gone_South. I had to scroll up to re-read but I think I figured it out. :) It definitely is a generous sized space and I like the closet in there too for the bigger bulkier stuff - really heavy coats and big winter boots. We are all season here and lots of snow in the winter (with the exception of this past winter). I like your kitchen pantry also - I think that's a great use of space. I just remembered about our water cooler, I'd like to get that out of our eat in kitchen for the next house. Feel free to post more pics as the walls go up and it takes shape.

Drop Zone/Office Vs. Mudroom

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gone_south

kirkhall

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Drop Zone/Office Vs. Mudroom

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