What you could do is figure out what needs to be in that mudroom--say coats and jackets, shoes and boots, recycle bins, some sports equipment and the cat's food and bowls. Then rip out all the benches and make some thoughtful storage purchases that will house everything you want to keep there. Anything currently stored there that you don't want in the space needs to find a new home elsewhere, or people will continue to store it in there. There are many options for storage--shelves, cabinets, bins, drawers, a built-in closet. Shelves can have doors fitted, or be covered with curtains or a shade. You could even run a shelf up above the windows and use pretty boxes to store out of season things up there. Depending on where you live, it might be possible to get something custom built for not much more than the cost of buying and installing things yourself. With the right storage furniture, you might be able to treat this more as room, instead of a storage space. Put in one or two chairs or a freestanding bench for shoe removal. Curtains that you like. A paint scheme based on the curtain colors. I just get the feeling that the benches are holding you back. You feel you need to keep them, even though they aren't used and aren't useful. Measure out the space without the benches and do some research on the storage options that are out there. It'll be a huge change, but if you keep the benches, that space is never going to function well for you.

Gwyndill, how high off the floor is your foot niche? Yours looks a little higher than I was thinking, but it's hard to judge from the photo. I'm considering doing something similar. I'm thinking 16-17" would be good, plus angle the bottom downward very slightly. The other option is a triangular better bench for the corner, open on the bottom.

@k9arlene, Thanks. Yes, birds would make a mess. It would be pain to get a ladder to clean the outside of the railing. Luckily, it is only one story up. Industrial is not my favourite look. Thanks for letting me know you think the glass matches the look of my house more. @tibbrix, Thanks for clarifying the view with cable railings. Surely, there is somewhere near me that someone has used them that I can see. As per providing a wind breaker, that does sound nice, but in practice I am not sure how often we would be out there on windy days anyway. I too am concerned about cleaning. Carol

My bathroom is a bit larger but I still wonder if I should have chose all the same but most of the time I love that it matches yet varies too I did the exact as you, small faux marble squares, larger porcelain marble tiles in brick pattern on walls and a grey herringbone on my floor too. My floor is large format though. Here is my bath so you have reference of a similar tile scheme and the next picture is with all the same marble. Maybe it will help you decide...I used a greyer real marble threshold to bridge the two floors.. I love this pictured bath and looking at it makes me second guess my final choices sometimes than other times I like that from my room the floor and even the room do not look like a bathroom necessarily... So hard to choose xo