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Help with mudroom design...it seems like they're all too small!

7 years ago

We're very early in and I want to make sure the mudroom will truly meet our needs.

Family of six, kids are 2-13. We live in the mid-atlantic so we have scores of coats, rain coats, snow pants, rain boots, snow boots, hats, gloves, mittens, scarves, etc..

I've seen lots of lovely locker setups that would be fine for daily use, but not storing multiple coats per person. I've also seen it suggested that the off-season stuff be stored elsewhere but from November to April it all needs to be readily available! So sure, I can box it up from May - October but for five months it all needs a home in the mudroom.

Suggestions?

Featured Answer

Beth

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

I don't know that it'll be a high enough priority to make it happen, but my ideal would to have a large closet for all of our coats, and then hooks for the most frequently worn each season. We *do* use our hooks in our current mudroom and although the shoes seem to multiple until every few days someone puts them all away :-), it's mostly been corralled--even when the kids were young and teenagers.

One can't "train" one's spouse, but children are trainable. Every single time I found a coat or a backpack on the floor instead of a hook, I made said child get up and put it away properly. Every time. By the time they were 7 or 8 they had it totally down--it was easier to hang up their stuff than it was to drop it, go do something, and then stop what they were doing to go back and hang it up.

For what it's worth, all our regular houseguests also know where their car keys go :-)

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Comments (38)

bpath
7 years ago
A long row of hooks or pegs! We are only 4 and use every hook, all the time. Row of boot trays beneath. I put wire shelves inside them to really let the footwear dry. Scarves drape on the hooks with the coats. Hats and mittens and gloves and balaclavas and garters and ... Well, all that stuff... Goes in baskets on a long open shelf. No pulling them out and pushing them back in, that won't happen, they are just open. I wish it were a shallow countertop with cabinets beneath so they'd be easier to put away and bring out in not-cold season. I do put them away in the basement in May!
User
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
We have a mudroom with open hooks and a bench for daily use and in our climate that is more than one coat due to the crazy weather swings and different activities. We each have 3 double hooks and I have 2 coats and a jacket plus my purse and a tote, dog leash etc. I have at least 10 pair of shoes plus my winter boots right now in my space. Kids have backpack, lunch box, snow pants, boots, basketball shoes, etc..

Just outside our mudroom we have a double door closet that stores off season stuff including sports equipment. It has 2 sets of double rods with shelving in the middle that is floor to ceiling. We can fit a lot in that closet. Right now it has baseball stuff, umbrellas, sandals, dog food, extra rugs, bike helmets - you name it.

It is a room so there is a pocket door on it. We did not do closed storage and I'm happy with my choice as I feel we can fit more in there and we do use the bench to sit on to put shoes on, etc.. I feel it offered the most versatile space and I know if we did closed storage the doors would never be shut, etc. and it would have limited what actually fit in there.

I ran into a post just today by @mrspete and she suggested the top be one space and not compartmentalized so you could use it for larger longer things and I think that's a great idea!

Here is the link - her post is midway down:

Mrs. Pete's locker sketch

It's good to start thinking about it now so it can house what you want it to.

FWIW here is our 'locker room' and adjacent closet. The locker area is not partitioned as it shows:
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lakeerieamber
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
We are planning something like this:

We were originally going to have separations for each person to make them more of lockers but we figured this way we could fit more hooks and it would be easier to sit on the bench part without the partitions. I like how Autumn has a closet nearby. In our original drawings we had a closet and lockers in the mudroom but we changed it to all lockers.
User
7 years ago
Our is laid out very similar to the pic above with the separation and baskets above except the bottom we have tall space as shown for boots and then we have a fixed shelf in others so we can store more shoes without them being on top of each other. Oh and in use ours isn't near as neat and cute with pillows and flowers as the above. ;)
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Virgil Carter Fine Art
7 years ago
There's lot of really good ideas here for those folks who are disciplined and motivated to be neat and tidy. But not every child or adult fits that description.

These sorts of rooms always look wonderful and encouraging to Moms and Dads who hope for a family who puts their stuff away.

As a sometimes contrarian, I'm left wondering what happens when all this money is spent to create such lovely spaces and Mom, Dad and/or half the children don't want to put their stuff in the proper place?

I'm wondering if the answer isn't simply a closet with a door? Open it and sort your stuff out from the pile on the floor...! It's worked for hundreds of years...
lakeerieamber
7 years ago
Yeah, mine definitely won't have all the pillows/baskets/flowers/cuteness but right now we have 3 command type hooks stuck to a wall and a hall coat closet. The boys generally hang their stuff on those 3 command hooks but nothing ever makes it into the closet. I am okay with things getting set on the bench/floor near the lockers. I just don't want the bookbags/shoes/coats to make it through the mudroom and into the kitchen/dinette area! Plus, since my husband and father are building the locker unit it will end up costing us less than having the builder install a closet.
autumn.4
7 years ago
My goal was to avoid having the locker area and hooks in the walkway/hall off the entry door. That I achieved and no more tripping over shoes that are kicked off at the door. They are seldom all under the bench but since they are in their own 'room - or kind of walk in closet' it's not a problem. We have a pocket door but 95% of the time it's open. We also built our own 'built ins' and it wasn't too bad of a project at all. Have fun!
doc5md
7 years ago
We are planning a huge mudroom area. Several areas for hanging coats and boots, etc. Also a central counter for dropping "stuff." The goal is to keep it out of the kitchen. Since we will be living on a farm, there will be LOTS of outerwear and messiness to keep out of the main living areas. A side door and the entrance from the garage both empty into this area.
cevamal thanked doc5md
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Anglophilia
7 years ago
I'm not sure it's not a losing battle. My DD and her husband have 2 sons, 14 and going on 17. They have more jackets than I've ever owned in my entire life. They have sports gear and bags. They have shoes for various sports. And they have an entire bay of a basement garage that hasn't held a car in 18 years in which to put it and it's still chaos. Sometimes, it's hard to find a clear path to get to the basement door. A coatroom attendant is the only thing that would work and there don't seem to be many of them working in people's private homes!
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Virgil Carter Fine Art
7 years ago
This is such a First-World problem! :-)
doc5md
7 years ago
It sure it sure is Virgil!!
emilyam819
7 years ago
I think it's everything if you design the mudroom so it's ON THE WAY to the rest of the house. If one has to turn or enter a dead-end mudroom in order to put shoes and coats away properly, it's not going to function. I see so many plans with mudrooms that would go unused if it was my house... because I would be the first one guilty of kicking off her shoes and dropping her coat just OUTSIDE the mudroom.
Beth
7 years ago
I assure you it's doable and functionable. We have to turn to enter our mudroom--in this house and the one before it. All of us hang up our coats. None of them get dropped on the floor. (Yes, I have kids--they're now 21, 24, and 28. They all know how to hang up coats.)
cevamal
Original Author
7 years ago
Just outside our mudroom we have a double door closet that stores off season stuff including sports equipment. It has 2 sets of double rods with shelving in the middle that is floor to ceiling. We can fit a lot in that closet. Right now it has baseball stuff, umbrellas, sandals, dog food, extra rugs, bike helmets - you name it.

I think the adjacent closet is key, thanks. It's funny how no one ever mentions one! It's always a row of lockers with bins. Having both I can see working.

As a sometimes contrarian, I'm left wondering what happens when all this money is spent to create such lovely spaces and Mom, Dad and/or half the children don't want to put their stuff in the proper place?

Anything's possible, but that doesn't mean we can't try! I find that everyone (myself included) is a lot more likely to put things away when there's an easy-to-access place where it goes. Right now we don't have that. Our house is a split foyer with no entry coat closet so coats all end up draped over the railing and shoes piled next to the door. It's the same amount of effort to hang coats on a hook and kick shoes under a bench. Plus we've had 13 years to hone our nagging skills. At least this way there will be a place to nag them to put their stuff!

There's also a pile of snow pants, mittens, boots, etc. next to the back door in the dining room. Because there's no where else to put them. Frankly I wouldn't even care if they ended up on the floor of the mudroom, just so long as they were IN a mudroom.

Growing up we had a "closet room" that was the size of a small bedroom. It was off a hallway, not part of the entrance, but it still got used. The left wall was bookcases, the right wall was hanging rods, and the back wall was a hook per kid and a milk crate under it for shoes/backpack/glovess. It was easy to use. Compliance was pretty close to 100% and we were not a meticulous household.

I'm wondering if the answer isn't simply a closet with a door? Open it and sort your stuff out from the pile on the floor...! It's worked for hundreds of years...

Ugh. That's what we have now. A standard 3' wide coat closet not near any of the entries. It's an overstuffed (why would you put a single 3' wide coat closet in a house with five bedrooms? Would you not think maybe more than two people would live there?) black hole. The kids can never find anything in there, I have to go in with a flashlight. No one likes hanging their daily-use coats on a hanger, rather than a hook, including me.

So why would I go with a solution I KNOW I hate rather than one that might work? To save a couple of hundred bucks? No, thanks.

One can't "train" one's spouse, but children are trainable. Every single time I found a coat or a backpack on the floor instead of a hook, I made said child get up and put it away properly. Every time. By the time they were 7 or 8 they had it totally down--it was easier to hang up their stuff than it was to drop it, go do something, and then stop what they were doing to go back and hang it up.

Fortunately the "problem spouse" in our house is...me. :o

I do the same thing with always making them come fix it. I don't care if you're up on a loft and in the middle of a book, come get your backpack off the couch. Motivation to put it away next time.

The little ones are in a Montessori preschool and hang their coats on their hooks and put their shoes in the right place every day. They can train the rest of us. ;)

Thanks for mentioning guests...we have all the grandparents here frequently, plus kids over a lot, so we'll definitely want extra hooks to accommodate them.

We are planning a huge mudroom area. Several areas for hanging coats and boots, etc. Also a central counter for dropping "stuff." The goal is to keep it out of the kitchen. Since we will be living on a farm, there will be LOTS of outerwear and messiness to keep out of the main living areas. A side door and the entrance from the garage both empty into this area.

Can you post pictures and/or a floorplan? A counter for mail & stuff is on my list, too.

This is such a First-World problem! :-)

The same could be said for every thread on this forum.
autumn.4
7 years ago
We have zero problems with anyone dropping their items outside of the mudroom. You walk in the door and turn left immediately. Within the room the biggest issue is shoes kicked off but not under the bench (myself included sometimes) which is really not a horrible problem as they aren't in a walk way or anything it's just messy looking. The backpacks are sometimes on the bench and not on the hooks but still in their area. Dh and I are on one side and the boys are on the other.
Pinebaron
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Zero problems. In our homes and the new one planned we've always had a seasonal room storage, apart from mudroom plus tons of other storage. Though we are a disciplined family (including visiting kids and grandkids), the traffic flow into and out of mudroom, adequate lighting and visually simple features, make it easy to put down groceries and/or parcels, hang car keys, kick off boots, hang coat etc.

Easy immediate access to bath and washrooms is also very important, no doubt depends on available space, however traffic flow should match family needs, habits and general human requirements. My DW and I are 'neat freaks', we like to maintain our living spaces and possessions in show condition, it can get annoying at times, we often attempt to tone down but decades of habits are hard to discard. Funny enough our children who used to joke about us and our home and cars(thats only me), now have their own homes/apartments, live much the same way though it took them a while to become house proud, not quite car proud yet.
cevamal
Original Author
7 years ago
Here's my issue with "seasonal storage": In our case the bulk of coat room stuff is all in use in the winter. So while yes, I can and do pack up ski jackets & snow pants & snow boots for the summer in the winter they all need to be in the mudroom and accessible.

What am I missing?
doc5md
7 years ago
Cevamal- I'll get a plan up once we have it more finalized. we are still adjusting many things with our architect. Right now, there are three separate "bench/coat/stuff" areas (each with several hooks and storage bins, etc) that are like you would typically see.. 1 for DW and I, 1 for the kids, and the third is for the dogs. We are thinking the dogs will be a built-in crate with doggie door underneath and storage for doggie stuff above. The center will have an island. Depending on the size, this will be mail drop area, etc. If large enough, it may become a homework area. There is a closet as well- inside is where the laundry chute drops clothes. The mudroom and closet are a couple steps from the laundry.

All subject to change as we are playing with moving the stairwell around- which lands in the mudroom.

Our current house mudroom is much smaller... And the sitting bench for putting on shoes and storage of shoes beneath, is located behind the door when open. This is terrible as everyone comes in and kicks off their shoes right in front of the door. Sometimes it is tough to even get the door open because of the shoes!
cevamal thanked doc5md
chispa
7 years ago
A good size walk in closet right next to the main family entrance. You never see it in home plans, but I have seen a few in real life. Include some good closet organizers. The walk in closet can hold all the clothes and gear. The stuff is kept out of the main hallway and the closet door can be closed when "important" guests stop by.
doc5md
7 years ago
Chispa- this is actually a really neat idea. I may need to incorporate this.
sheloveslayouts
7 years ago
I like that, chispa. Like the cloak room in my old elementary school.
chispa
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
The one I last remember seeing was a remodel. You came in from the garage and there was a hallway. I think they converted the laundry room into the walk-in mud room closet. It might of had a barn type door to make it look "pretty". They then added a laundry room upstairs. It was a long time ago, so details are foggy!
PRO
Virgil Carter Fine Art
7 years ago
Yep, a closet! A closet close to the family entry/exit, which has some floor to ceiling shelves, some hooks or a couple of rows of hooks and a door (mebbe even some hooks on the inside of the door). Pretty much works. And a parent who makes sure the closet is tided up regularly--assuming the parent is disciplined and tidy! :-)
Intoodeep
7 years ago
I am following this thread!!
larecoltante Z6b NoVa
7 years ago
A full length mirror helps you realize you still have the burp cloth over your shoulder when you're taking the baby out with you for the preschool pick up run...
jaimeeap
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
This was a BIG deal to me. I really wanted a way to capture ALL of our crap in the mudroom. We are a shoe free house and needed somewhere to store all the shoes and boots for our 3 kids as well as the utilitarian shoes for my husband and I (the rest will go in our closets). I also wanted somewhere to store all the many jackets, coats, gloves, hats, sweatshirts, sports equipment, Costco overflow, etc. Here's the overall layout:

So, I (with my designers help) came up with a mudroom that has lockers with hooks and then doors that can house each person's current coat/jacket/purse/backpack/most used shoe and boot, with a bench for putting shoes on (socks will be stored in the drawers).

My husband and I have a separate set of lockers with a drop zone for keys and mail. I plan on using the cabinets to store returns and items that I plan on taking with me out of sight.

Then, directly off the mudroom is a large closet that can house all the previously listed items. I'll have a central vac line in the mudroom to keep it tidy as possible and we went with slate floors for durability. Here's what the inside of the mudroom closet design looks like:

My builder teases me about all the storage, but I know we will really utilize it and will make organization much easier. Good luck in your project!
chispa
7 years ago
jaimeeap, that looks great. Have you considered using the ELFA shelf system for that mudroom closet? You could accomplish everything you showed in the diagram, but the ELFA system would allow you to modify the storage as the kids grow and your storage needs change.
Renee Texas
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
I also have 4 kids! Our area is actually 4 ft long. I have two double hooks (four spaces on each hook), so each child has a backpack spot, and coat/hat/etc spot, with an area for lunchbox above.

Make sure you look at hooks- 3-prong are readily availible (does this solve the coats problem?), as are 2-prong.

I don't quite understand why they have more than one coat. Is that a northern thing? Can they not be hung on the same peg? We don't have real winters; we have sunhats here!

I find anything much larger and it'll just attract clutter. I don't keep jackets there unless it's jacket-season (stored elsewhere), but we only use them about 2mo out of the year. Think vertical, rather than horizontal, as much as you ca.

Ours is off the garage, as we rarely use the front door, and the front coat closet is where I store things in off-season. My DH and I use hooks in our bedroom, which is nearby, rather than needing all the space the children do with the assortment of things they need the space for in school-related items.
cevamal
Original Author
7 years ago
Yes, it's a northern thing. :D We all have a variety of coats of all different weights and you might use three different coats in a single week!

More than one coat on a peg often means the one on top falling down as soon as someone looks at it funny.

Why backpacks and lunch boxes in the mudroom? They need backpacks for their homework and lunchboxes have to be emptied in the kitchen. (Although I wouldn't be opposed to them then going BACK to the mudroom!)
gthigpen
7 years ago
I grew up in Minnesota and our house had something we called a 'breezeway', but I suppose is called a mudroom today. It was basically a full room that spanned the entire house, front to back, and was between the garage and the kitchen. I'd guess it was about 8-10 feet wide and our house was probably 30 feet deep, so a nice large room. It had 4 doors...1 to the garage, 1 to the kitchen, 1 to the front driveway and 1 to the backyard. That was the most functional room in our house. A complete wall was dedicated to hooks for our various jackets, snowsuits, ski equipment, etc. A couple of benches and rows of boot/shoe trays lined the other wall. We also kept our dog food/water, cat litter box, cat food, here as well. A typical size mudroom that I see in house plans today would not have been enough space for the stuff we had.

I live in N. Texas now and we don't have need for that much dedicated space, but I still long for a nice 'breezeway'. I also like jamieeap's setup shown a few posts up.
ILoveRed
7 years ago
Jaime..I only have 2 kids left at home and they are 14 so I don't need as much storage as you but color me green with envy :-)
autumn.4
7 years ago
oh man Renee - yes welcome to the north! lol! I have more coats than my kids but I have work coats, and walking/running coats of varying weights, windjackets, snowblowing coat (old), lighter weight fleece coat, etc. I use them all weekly with the crazy weather around here and the different activities I do. Summertime which is a very short 3 months - it's a lot less congested but still more than one jacket with the weather swings.

cevamal-I agree on double or triple hooks. I hate having to unload the hook to get to the coat on the bottom and I'm the Mom. My kids would just let it fall on the bench... We also have a place for our boot dryer to plug in and on any given day there are gloves sitting on the vent to dry out. I also like a side mudroom/closet because of all of the wet that melt off produces. We don't wear shoes in the house and when I walk down that hall I do not want to be walking in puddled water. The mudroom off of the hall solves that issue as well.

The backpacks make their home in the mudroom, lunchboxes live there over the weekends and breaks or hot lunch days (so you are right they unload in the kitchen and stay their for re-packing for the next day). They take their binders out when they need to do homework. I do not want the backpacks sitting in the kitchen where I have to work around them. Homework is often done at island counter but whether it's the binder of the whole pack, back to the mudroom it goes when they are finished. It's all right in one spot when we are trying to get out the door in the morning.

But that's just how we do it. I was tired of the kitchen clutter so when we built and incorporated a mudroom it all resides there where I don't have to step over and around it or work over and around it. But now instead of papers my kitchen counters hold electronic devices - go figure!
Lindsy
7 years ago
Autumn4- is your house a single story? If so I'd love to see your floor plan!
User
7 years ago
Lindsy it's a 1.5 story. Main floor master with 2 beds and a bath upstairs. If you'd like to see it message me and I will email it.
Lindsy
7 years ago
Autumn4, I can't figure out how to message you!
autumn.4
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Click on 'autumn.4' by my doodles face and you should be able to. :-)
autumn.4
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
I sent you a message. You can delete your email now. When you click a persons user name it should come up and say 'contact me' if the setting is turned on.

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