Do you have a mudroom?

[TimeforMe]

And if you do, what do you have in it? We are "remodeling" our mudroom which is sort of an enclosed porch(ish) area off the back door. Right now I have a tough rug in there and shelves (which hold our beach towels and recycling bins right now) but I was considering putting in a hall tree or shoe holders or hooks for coats, etc. Not sure what to do. The room is pretty small but certainly large enough for its purpose. We re-painted it and I will hang curtains on the 2 small windows in there. Any suggestions?

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

We've got some storage boxes stacked in there -mostly full of kids' playthings. The walls are decorated with movie posters.

 

[mickeysgal]

I've always wanted a mud room. A place to store shoes, coats, backpacks, etc. Have you seen any of the recent Pottery Barn or JC Penney catalogs? They show a hallway coat organizer piece of furniture that has hooks for your coat, a bench seat, and organizing bins underneath it. I've seen it in offered in white and black.

 

[TimeforMe]

mickeysgal: yes, this is exactly what I was thinking! They actually had one at the Christmas Tree Shoppe for $100. I'm considering it.

 

[aprilgail2]

what is a mudroom? I am sure it is not a room with a mud floor and walls like I am picturing in my head.....

 

[Teresa Pitman]

Yes! In fact, it was one of the reasons I bought this house! Mine has three doors: one opens into the kitchen, one into the garage, and one into the backyard. I have a durable rug on the floor and my big chest freezer is in there. When my dogs come in wet from the backyard, I make them stay there until they are dry enough to come into the rest of the house.

On two of the walls are two rows of sturdy hooks where we hang up winter clothes, hockey kits, etc. There are hooks to hang bikes on the ceiling. Then on the other two walls there are deep, sturdy shelves and I use those to store a variety of things - sports equipment, extra dishes, etc. on one wall, and pantry items (canned goods mostly) on the other. I store bottled water and cans of pop on the floor under the shelves.

Teresa

 

[monarchsfan16]

We sort of have one. At my mom's we have a coat rack hanging on the wall and a bench underneath it. At my dad's we don't have anything in it at the moment, because his house is still under reconstruction, but eventually the coat stand will go back in there. Basically we keep it plain and simple, so there's more room for shoes and what not. There's a rug in both of them too

Aprilgail: A mudroom is basically the small room you walk into when you walk into a house. Some people call it an entry way. Not all houses have them, but in a lot that do that's where people take off their shoes when they walk in a house

 

[mickeysgal]

Yes! In fact, it was one of the reasons I bought this house! Mine has three doors: one opens into the kitchen, one into the garage, and one into the backyard. I have a durable rug on the floor and my big chest freezer is in there. When my dogs come in wet from the backyard, I make them stay there until they are dry enough to come into the rest of the house.

On two of the walls are two rows of sturdy hooks where we hang up winter clothes, hockey kits, etc. There are hooks to hang bikes on the ceiling. Then on the other two walls there are deep, sturdy shelves and I use those to store a variety of things - sports equipment, extra dishes, etc. on one wall, and pantry items (canned goods mostly) on the other. I store bottled water and cans of pop on the floor under the shelves.

Teresa

Ok - I'm totally jealous. Oh for a dedicated place for shoes, coats, and wet dogs.

 

[frndofpooh]

Yes! Ours has a full wall of cabinets that hold tons of stuff. I also have my washer and dryer in there, a deacon's bench with storage, a wall coat rack and the recycling bin for newspapers. The floor is tile. It also serves as my 85 lb collie's bedroom so one of his beds is stationed in a corner. I love the convenience of this room, especially in the winter!

 

[TENIA66]

yes....sometimes they all are mudrooms though.........

we keep shoes, coats, umbrellas, outdoor equipment, sporting equipment, animal stuff in there.....cleaning supplies too

 

[TimeforMe]

Teresa--yours sounds huge!

Before we put the addition on our house, everyone used the back door. Now, since some of the yard is cut off and we just finished a paved path (through a gate) to the backyard, we would like everyone to use the back door again. Our front door empties into our living room which has a brand new light beige rug in it that I would like to keep looking nice. The mudroom is off the back door but looked really crappy, hence the remodeling. I just got done looking online at hall benches with storage baskets underneath and think I will go that route since the space is rather smallish. Maybe hooks overhead.

Ideally, everyone will use the backdoor and leave their shoes and coats there.

 

[Micca]

Have never even heard of one till now. Some of have a "back porch" which may be similar.

 

[schlepsnort]

We have a mudroom off of our kitchen that goes out to a small back area and the back of our garage.
Right now we store dog food in it and in a small pantry I keep my extra baking pans, crock pot and misc cookware. It also stores my mops/brooms.
Mainly we using it as a 'holding' area to clean off the dogs paws before they come into the house after using their dog area.
It's nice to have and when we look for a new house I hope to find something with a mudroom type as well. Or back porch...just about anything that is enclosed that I can wipe down the dogs before they get into the house. 12 paws + mud= disaster

 

[golfgal]

We have one. I want to install some type of lockers, wood, to hang coats, backpacks, etc. Right now it just has a long bar of hooks for those things but it always looks messy.

For those that asked, a mud room is usually a back entryway into a house that is designed to hold all of your coats, shoes, etc. Often they will have laundry facilities, a bathroom or a sink. It is just a place to take off your wet, muddy, or dry outdoor clothing really. Same concept as a back porch but they are usually "indoor" rooms, heated/cooled, etc.

 

[disneygals]

I bought a 3 cubby station at Christmas tree shops for $80, don't know if they still carry them. Each section has a shelf on top and two hooks for coats and bags. It is not big enough for a winter coat and a back pack though. LLbean had something similar for $400. I don't know how to describe it exactly. Llbean has something like it online now, but has 2 big drawers underneath.

Also from CTS, showing in their flyer now, are big white units with canvas boxes. I have 2 sizes of those and love them.

 

[stacy347]

Yep, we do and I love it! I honestly had never heard of a mudroom until we bought this house. It is about 8x8 and it has one wall of cabinets. You come into it from the deck and it has an entrance into the kitchen. Right now I've got my computer set up in here and I'm using the upper cabinets for all of my seasonal decorations and the lower ones for brooms, mops, bottles that need to be returned, etc. The floor is usually covered in shoes, LOL.

 

[grinningghost]

This is going to sound stupid, but one of the biggest reasons we're building a new house is for the mudroom. We had absolutely no place to add one in our old house, and I was getting tired of everything piling up in our foyer.

I'm looking forward to having a space for shoes, coats and assorted junk - that won't be exposed to the entire world.

 

[THE HAT]

ours is pretty big as well, it is sliding glass doors on each end and two on the outside wall, that open to our deck, then a regular doorway into the house. half is blocked off by a couch and hanging above it is a beautiful tapestry that hides the bikes scooters and outdoor toys. the other half has lots of pretty copper items on the walls and hanging from the ceiling, and a small patio table with two chairs, and a moveable cart that holds misc. items, gloves, dog leash etc etc, and we also have a long stretch along the wall that shoes line up against. the whole thing is floored with indoor/outdoor carpeting. in the middle of winter in maine it is the best place for snowy wet boots and such! right inside our entryway into the house is our huge coat closet.

 

[Bob Slydell]

Yep, we have one -- it's also our laundry room, so the washer and dryer and a laundry sink are in there along with a large closet and some cabinets above the washer and dryer. It's right off the garage and goes into the kitchen from there.

 

[mickeyboat]

We have one. It has a huge closet in it to store shoes, boots, coats, sporting equipment, etc. We also have a bench where people can take off their shoes, since we don't wear them in the house. The floor is dark ceramic tile which is very easy to clean.

Denae