pps7-we had porcelain look slate in our last house and it did hold up great so that's what I have been leaning toward again. But - you are correct it is more pricey. Can you tell me more about your real slate? I'm concerned about the clefts - chipping, harder on feet, harder to clean? Any of those true? Do you walk barefoot on it no problem? I am thinking with the divots and clefts it might trap dirt more readily. ??? The coloring of natural slate is beautiful. I have looked at it several times over but too concerned with the above to make the jump. We will have significantly more flooring this time around so cost is definitely a factor. Thanks.

Hi Davidtay, Thanks for your reply. The depth of each locker is 25 inches and width is 25 inches too. The total dimensions of the mudroom, including the lockers, is 11 feet 5 inches deep and 9 feet 3.5 inches wide. (for the narrowest part). I think your idea to rough in lighting for the actual lockers is spot on. We will do that for sure. The cost to switch from roughed in pots to rough in for fixtures will only cost an hour of labour so not a big cost if fixtures would light the space better than the pots. Do you think fixtures would light the space better than pots (ceilings are 8 foot)? We are happy to use the Cree series if that works as well as fixtures. The current roughed in pots are 4 inch. Thanks! Carol

I would really vote against the lockers. They don't work well in schools and they don't work well in families with small kids. Kids just shove the stuff in and go and when someone opens the locker, everything tumbles out. The first thing I see is "too much, too many." It looks like every pair of shoes in the family is being stored in a very busy spot. It the shoes won't be worn at least every couple of days, I would get them into the bedroom storage closets. Keep only those pairs worn constantly in that area. Each of my kids have two hooks. Beneath their hooks is space for their winter boots and one pair of shoes. The two hooks are fine for their coat and backpack. Once the weather changes, only the coat needed for that weather is on the hook. Other coats go into the coat closets. I have rubber mats or throw rugs for the shoes to collect the drips since we are going into spring messes here. During the summer they keep their bike helmet on one hook while the backpacks are back in the bedroom closets. I would set up a larger corner cabinet for ironing board/vacuum if you don't have anywhere else for that. The pet dish could go right next to the corner if that's the only place you can keep their food. I would not have the bench unless you really, really, really have to sit. It will only continue to be a catch-all. Put hooks up for your purse. One thing to think about for a mud-room is that is has to change to meet the needs of the season. You can't keep everything there on a permanent basis or the room can't be very functional. The more kids have to open and close storage in my house, the less likely they will use it on a consistent basis. Our area usually looks pretty neat, serves the purpose and no one is every digging through stuff to find what they need. And we live in a winter climate, so we do have tons of extra gear at times. Gloria

In my experience, adding paint is usually as easy, if not more so, than properly adding a coat of varnish---and if you are referring to polyurethane type varnish----paint is much easier. Plus, if you were to use an alkyd paint(more water/moisture resistant than any varnish), the frequency of recoating is much longer, due to the durability of the paint. Now, applying alkyd paint is more difficult---about half again as much as regular paint. Advantages would far outweigh anything else for me---and I have used alkyd paint often for customers for bathroom wood cabinets I built or bought.