Our builder's floor plan is attached. We have the option with the morning room. Our floor plan differs slightly from what's shown as our garage is attached to the morning room, meaning we walk in from the garage and enter directly into the morning room/eating area, with the covered porch directly on our right as we walk in. We have some shelves, hooks and baskets but the area is generally always a mess. We take our shoes off in the house, so when we're eating at the table we are eating next to baskets of shoes and coats on hooks, etc. Stuff also tends to accumulate on the kitchen counters because it's set down as we walk in and there's no other space to put it. Our main kitchen area stresses me out every day because it feels cluttered with stuff like my son's school materials, coats and shoes.

We have lived in this house for over 10 years and have literally never used the dining room. It is furnished as a dining room because we assumed we would use it as such, but we tend to only use it to put "in limbo" stuff on the dining room table. Meaning things we have put aside to donate or stuff we need every weekend for my son's sports games and tournaments like fans and other equipment. It's like a holding space. Guests come in the front door and immediately see the dining room and how bad it looks. I've been thinking about turning the dining room into a mud room for a while now, but what stopped me was thinking that we wouldn't change our habit of taking shoes off and putting stuff down in the kitchen area right when we get home. We have a puppy who loves to chew on shoes, so we have moved our shoe baskets to the dining room table for now until he outgrows the phase. It hasn't been an issue to get our shoes and put them back in that area at all. My son uses the front door when he leaves for school and comes back home, so the dining room is right there when he walks in.

We have attended holidays at my parents' and other family members' houses. They are getting older, so I can predict them wanting to do it at our house sometime in the next few years. I don't have a big family--we have enough seating in the kitchen area and I could always set up an additional table in the family room space if needed. We also don't tend to have formal meals, even on holidays.

Do you think it would be a good idea to turn the dining room into a mud room? Any specific suggestions or recommendations?