OT: thinking outside the box for mud room.

10 years ago

We have the world's oddest house in regards to layout. It is a high rancher but the front rather than the rear is exposed. The cedar deck on the rear of our home runs almost the entire length of our home with French doors from the living room and library that open onto it.

DH's garages are behind and off to the side of our home and he always uses the French doors in the library to enter the house. Because of this my library constantly has a huge assortment of his shoes, coats, boots etc. cluttering the room. I have a bench that he could stow things in but he isn't very neat and the items end up scattered.

I keep trying to envision how to solve the issue when an idea hit me. We have a walk in closet in our living room that is four and a half feet by eight and a half feet. We use it basically for over flow and storing our winter coats. Because it is to the back of the room we could put a door from the deck into the closet. There would be enough space for the bench, shallow shelves along the short end for hats, gloves and scarfs and peg hooks along the one long side so he could hang his coats etc. We talked about it and neither of us can come up with a downside to it. Though I would much rather have the space be wider than fifty four inches it would keep his clutter enclosed and we would be making better use of an existing space rather than adding a whole other room.

Please tell me your thoughts. Do you think this would work? Also please give me your thoughts about possible downsides. We would have the door swing out onto the deck just like our French doors do.

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Comments (8)

ArlingtonVAremodel
10 years ago
Our mudroom is 3.5 feet by 13 feet. The entrance from outside is on one of the long walls (there also is a window on this wall, with a dog door underneath). The short wall closest to the door has some hanging file bins, a calendar, bulletin board, and white board (or it will, once they are all hung). The short wall furthest from the door has floor-to-ceiling shelves for bags, sports equipment, etc. The long wall facing the door has hooks and a shallow bench with storage for shoes and boots underneath; it also has the doorway into our family room.

In short, I say go for it. Even a small (and, in our case, not super-organized) mudroom has the benefit of coralling stuff in a way that avoids the eyesore spillage into the rest of the house. We come in the side door and just dump everything there. I wish I hadn't waited 10 years to add it on!
Holly- Kay
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you so much Arlington mom. I really think it will work and your layout sounds similar to what I am envisioning.
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SO much better than the first. :) I'm worried about the human dynamics of the shoe thing, though. This isn't a closet, it's a mudroom. That means wet, possibly muddy shoes, right? Shoes above message center doesn't sound practical. I think if you fitted the bottom of each locker area with a tray for shoes and maybe a little shelf or pouch or basket above it for houseshoes, you have half a chance of them not ending up in a pile on the floor (projecting ahead to the possible larger family). Re the sink: Once it's installed can't you tile the outside side of the grooming tub? Especially if the sink is going to be smaller. Or if the tile won't work, surely you could do metal mirror, or cabinetry, or something else pretty. FRIDGE tub sink really would look best, assuming that the fridge surround gives it enough spacing away from the wall to open fully. If the door swing and other issues keep it at tub FRIDGE sink, you could minimize the impact by putting cabinetry all the way up around each section, instead of just around the fridge. Then they'd echo the look of the lockers on the other side. That would make sense of the arrangement, and, even though it might look a little more closed in, it wouldn't actually be any different, and would look a lot better.
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I wouldn't want my sewing area to be part of the laundry or the mudroom. I can't imagine that it would be all that enjoyable to spend time there. At least not for me. Once I get going on a project, I like to spread out. I also find I need lots of natural light to be comfortable when I'm working on a project. How much light would you really have? I think it would be easier to combine the mudroom and laundry area and then incorporate long term storage if you have extra room in that area. If you like to garden, it could also be space for a utility sink and grow lights or a potting area. I'd steal an extra bedroom and have my sewing area do double duty with a guest bedroom. I have a good sized laundry room and I'm always suprised when people ask why I didn't make the extra space into my sewing area. No one ever asks why I didn't stick the DH and his computer in there! Gloria
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teacats
10 years ago
What a brilliant idea!!! :) Honestly -- that sounds like a super solution to the problem! :)

Could a breezeway or covered pathway be built from the garages -- with additional covered closet areas that COULD be used during better weather for storage?
TxMarti
10 years ago
The only downside I can think of is possibly a draft in the living room. Oh and if his shoes smell like my dh's shoes, well, best further from the living room. lol
Holly- Kay
Original Author
10 years ago
That is a great idea tea cats but the garages are quite a distance from the house. I really think it is the perfect solution. We may still put a roof on and enclose the lower end of the deck but that would require a building permit whereas this is just a change to the existing house. I also don't like the idea of losing the light that comes in our French doors if we make an enclosed porch area.
Holly- Kay
Original Author
10 years ago
Lol Marti. Fortunately he doesn't have that issue. Many other issues but not that one :)
Annie Deighnaugh
10 years ago
I think it's a great idea.

You can go to homestyler.com and use the free software there to play with floor plans and layouts for how it might work.

Our mudroom is about 54" across up to the closet. But that includes room for the washer and dryer so you should have plenty of room to do what you want. We have a bench and cubbies for storage of hats and such and a place to take boots on and off. We put the hooks over the heat vent so wet coats and such can dry out faster.
Holly- Kay
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks so much Annie. You have all reinforced my thoughts that this can work.

OT: thinking outside the box for mud room.

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OT: thinking outside the box for mud room.

Comments (8)

ArlingtonVAremodel

Holly- KayOriginal Author

Related Discussions

teacats

TxMarti

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Annie Deighnaugh

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Holly- Kay
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