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Remodeling Design Dilemma

Mudroom - closed or open locker/cubby system?

6 years ago

We are remodeling our main floor and mudroom and would love opinions on closed versus open locker mudroom systems. We live in South Dakota (snow/wet) and have a 6 and 3 year-old. Any experienced opinions are greatly appreciated. Thank you!

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Comments (5)

PRO
Sina Sadeddin Architectural Design
6 years ago
Where is the mudroom located? If it's in an area where guests will walk through, like near the front entrance, closed might look neater. If it's tucked away near the garage or side exit open is fine.

It also depends on what you're storing in there. If it's wet items having open storage would let them breathe and dry faster than in closed storage. Another open is to do a combination of both. Have open hooks but closed cabinets too.
roarah
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Closed with slots for venting. Open looks great with two or three pretty items as shown above but never look like that in real life if they are used to capacity. I always feel like I am walking into someone else's not so neat walk in closet when I enter some open storage mudrooms. Unless it is staged for an open house not yet lived in I do not believe a space as nice as above really exists for I have never been in one that did not make me want to organize and fold other people's stuff. A hook or two maybe, all open no.
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Marthaelena, can you help give me a more specific recommendation on what might look good? Because I started out thinking I could change materials and just couldn't hit on an idea that would work. Kitchen will be warm contemporary with medium stained shaker cabinets on cherry; dark granite or soapstone, and oak hardwood floors. The kitchen is at one end of the mudroom, and at the other is the back hall and then the laundry. Laundry floor is tile that relates to the kitchen backsplash but basic white slab melamine cabinetry. So I feel like a third look in between might be too much. I can see keeping the same color and switching from shaker to slab in the office/mudroom area, for example, but I have a harder time picturing switching to a different wood tone. Maybe something like this - maybe I paint my island and then carry that color into the mudroom? I am one of those people who cannot figure out how to put things together visually. I know what I like and what I don't when it is done, but I have a very hard time visualizing what will work and what won't. mnhockeymom, love your lockers. Who did yours - cabinet company or finish carpenter? I want something very similar with the bottom portion being deeper than the top, and then I'll have cabs with doors over the top. At the end of the run I'll have my spare refrigerator. We also have one locker with a door that is dedicated to shoes as we have many, many shoes and they all live in the mudroom. We take off our shoes as soon as we come inside so the kids don't have any shoes upstairs at all. DH and I have some but most are mudroom-based. Anita
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Comments (9)
I know cubbies look really cool, but is it a look at the expense of practicality when you have a limited area? As mentioned above, ability to sit seems to be key and will be hampered at least somewhat by the cubbies. If there are dividers above the hanging area for baskets and below the sitting area to keep shows/boots separate, can you get the hanging space you need by staggering hooks on one large un-cubbied wall between them? My boys are grown but I know every attempt I made to create organization for them that met MY design standards failed! In our family coat area I managed to get them to use their own baskets for hats and gloves but the hooks were up for grabs - finally admitted defeat and let them hang their coats where they wanted. Also, since the baskets are so high, will they be usable by kids? I don't know how old yours are, but would making a vertical stack of basket cubbies work? Little ones can reach the lower baskets and parents can reach the higher ones. Same thing for shoes - vertical storage and adjustable shelves could net you a lot more. If those two vertical unites flank the hook hanging space, you have basically created one large hanging cubbie and still have the sides of the shoe and basket storage for more hooks. Make sense or am I clouding the issue?
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Comments (5)
My friend had a mudroom storage bench built and for four kids, it is 72" wide (so each kid has 18" dedicated to them. It has 18" drawers under each section for each kid to store their shoes in. Her actual bench part is about 2 ft wide but with the locker on top that takes up 16" there's about 8" of sitting room. On top, she has cubbies going across with baskets for storage. I'm designing our mudroom now but we live on a working cattle farm so ours is a true mudroom :) I'm using IKEA cabinets, though, and will have drawers for kids shoes. There will also be a dedicated open area for the family's tall Muck boots. Overhead storage cabinets will contain baskets for gloves and other randomness.
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Q
Comments (1)
Yeah, depends on whether you have closet elsewhere. If this just has to hold everybody's current carry -- what they're using in the current season, etc. -- then 18" seems like plenty, especially with the extra sections above and below. If this is the place everybody has to store everything -- winter coat and spring jacket, bookbag and hockey gear, or whatever -- then you are going to need as much space as possible as the kids get older.
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PRO
Anglophilia
6 years ago
You know your children; do they ever put ANYTHING away in the drawer or closet or cabinet? This will give you your answer.
roarah
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Kids who do not put away their things in drawers or cabinets in my experience will not take the time to hang a jacket on open hooks either, sadly.

How my hall looks today. There is a boot tray and four hooks open for guests. My kids are good at stowing their things cause they know I will donate stuff they fail to put away, but it is a snow day and I am watching a couple of neighbor's kids, this is what happens with kids who do not have mean mommies like me visit.
mo_ni31
5 years ago
We had a house with open cubbies near the garage, away from public view and the kids always shoved their coats and backpacks in the cubbies. They looked messy but at least were off the floor.

We recently moved to a new house which has gorgeous built in closed door cubbies and I’m contemplating remodeling them for these reasons:

1. When you open these beautiful doors, you get hit by a nasty strong odor from their belongings which hasn’t dried properly. (am trying to figure out how to vent these)

2. It takes too much effort for these elementary kids to open The beautiful drawers below to put their shoes in, and even if they did manage to do that, they wouldn’t dry properly - again. Need venting.

3. These kids can’t seem to find their belongings when they are not openly visible to them, causing a lot of stress during those late mornings.

4. You can fit a lot more things in open cubbies versus having to account for door and drawer fronts.

If anyone has advice on how to make closed door systems more real-life friendly, I’m all ears. But for now, I’m investigating my options on how to convert the cubbies to be more open without ripping the whole thing out.

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