What are your tips for a perfect mud room?

Bielinski Homes

6 years ago

We would love to know what is necessary and nice-to-have in a mud room.

Featured Answer

Judy Mishkin

6 years ago

the best mudrooms have homeowners that don't overwhelm the capacity. nothing works if its 110% of capacity... (the photos are always about 20% capacity). restraint is the mud room's best friend.

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Comments (24)

Wendy
6 years ago
Shoe storage!
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Sina Sadeddin Architectural Design
6 years ago
We recommend our clients make a list of everything they use/have in their entry. Then we make sure we design so that everything has a place. People always think of the big items like coats, bags, and shoes but there are other things to consider like

-pet leashes

-umbrellas

-out of season coats

-exercise and sports equipment

- small items like keys, wallets, etc.
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JAN MOYER
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
@ Bielinski

The necessary and the nice are the same thing unless one adds an extra like a dog wash. Simply google "fabulous mudroom entrances" ........you already know it begins and ends with cubbies/hooks...... you HAD to know that : ) No human uses a hanger, not even in Wisconsin.
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simstress
6 years ago
Lol on the hangers. Beyond the cabinetry, make sure you have enough circulation space that the area doesn't become a bottleneck. Plan the lighting. Make sure hooks are at a height the kids, if any, can use by themselves. HTH
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B T
6 years ago
In-floor radiant heating. It helps to evaporate the water that melts from snowy boots. Plus it feels great!
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Shawn Lagemann
6 years ago
I love my mud hall, and I so agree with Sina to make a list of what you need. Ditto LOL on hangers. I have hooks for hanging on season coats, his/her closets for off season coats and baseball caps. A wood storage bench open below; I store dog items inside the bench, have a place to set my purse, put on shoes and below we tuck the shoes. An outdoor rug. A small chest, on top a basket for sunglasses, tray for all the keys, a mail sorting basket and above a mirror for one last check before you head out the door. Inside the top drawer has all the "stuff" like batteries, eyeglass screwdrivers, extra air fresheners for the car etc. I keep gloves, hats, scarves, rain ponchos in the other drawers. A tall wire basket for balls (they deflate in the garage.) A dog kennel that looks like furniture with a basket on top for reusable grocery bags. I also agree to make sure you have room for everything and still have space to maneuver around without having to "move" items or wait in line.
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mramsey
6 years ago
The best mudrooms have doors that can be shut so that you don't have to look at the mess.... and an alternate entry for those people who come over who you have the kind of complicated relationship with that induces squeamish feelings about how messy your life really is...Hooks, hangers or lockers, no kid will ever hang up their backpack willingly and as for shoes- don't those go right in the middle of the floor in order to keep mom nimble on her toes? Some day your mudroom will look like the pictures above and then how lonely and boring will life be?
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acm
6 years ago
Definitely design down for the kids, and not just in height -- open bins for shoes will work better than expecting them to pause and engage with neat shelves, and a place to drop a bag is better than a place to hang or shelve it. Have more bench than you think you need, because it will collect stuff like the dropped bags, so actual seating space is always at a premium.

Of course, I've never had a mud room, so we stumble along with a couple of hooks for kid-specific items, a hall bench with storage for mittens (that's piled with stuff in warmer seasons), and everybody dropping their bag near the entry and hooking their current coat over a dining room chair. Sigh.
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Southern Yellow Pine Direct
6 years ago
Build something- with our packing materials Most do
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greenfish1234
6 years ago
Some great points here! I especially appreciate having a door separating my mudroom from the main entry, although it is a glass door that allows a hint of what lies behind it. I kind of wish my mudroom had a mud room? I'm working on that idea for my garage: particularly dirty shoes and smelly cleats come off before the mudroom, I would love shelving out there for sports bags, we already have hooks for filthy mountain biking packs and helmets. Hook for grocery bags in the garage as well. Instruments clog my mudroom along side backpacks. A no first floor is a must. I have not cleaned my brick floor once in two years! I suppose it's time, but with a weekly vacuuming as well as a sweep every now and then, no one would ever know. I did get one of those L.L. Bean water hog rugs for the mudroom? I don't care for it, as you can't sweep it and even vacuuming dirt out from the crannies is difficult. I'm thinking about putting it in the garage but then it will stay dirty. Depending on the region, somewhere to allow snowy boots mittens and hats to dry, especially in ski country, would be dreamy. If I could design my cabin mudroom to my specifications, there would be some sort of drying rack or pegs with a heating duct blowing onto it, and large vented (heated?) lockers so I don't have to look at heaps and heaps of outdoor clothing bulging and sliding off of hooks
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JAN MOYER
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Frankly........... the entire entry mess began with cheap import clothes and shoes relative to disposable income. Does ANYONE remember when you had one of..... Sunday school shoes, school shoes, play shoes, and a single crappy pair of rubbery unlined leaky boots that went OVER a crappy play shoe? I do. And all the shoes except the boots had to go in your little bitty closet. In your ROOM.!! ...while that single pair of boots dried near a radiator and the soggy, snow encrusted mittens, also a single pair, steam dried above them. Now THAT is a memorable scent......: )
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Judy Mishkin
6 years ago
jan i couldnt agree more. cheap goods are why our houses need to be so large now! we just keep hauling the stuff home and then need more space for it.

a messy, undisciplined family will soon over run the largest mud room. save money on renovations, teach your family some tidy habits.
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Linda
6 years ago
Another issue is mudrooms that have carefully designed cubbies with one assigned per resident so each person has a specific spot for their items. That's a great idea but what about the kid's friends? You need extra space for visitors, both bodies and belongings, with variety of hooks at different heights.

The older kid's backpacks can be incredibly heavy and most hooks just aren't sturdy enough. I ended up mounting a rail about 3 feet off the floor and using bicycle hooks for backpacks
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Milcasa
6 years ago
Hello. In this room everything should be folded in shelves. For a certain category of things, there is a shelf.
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auntthelma
6 years ago
Don't forget hooks for keys and a place to put your purse.

I love mudrooms.
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Reach Design
6 years ago
Disagree on the hooks. Everything on the hooks looks messy. I prefer hungers behind firmly closed closet doors!!! Also, NO WOOD FLOORS in the mud room. That's my number 1 rule. Disclosure: I live in Raincouver...
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JAN MOYER
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
@ Reach

Where exactly do hang the WHIP?? I say this only because virtually every suburban entry will show at the hours between 2 pm and 4 pm............a pile of coats and book bags and shoes.......ON THE FLOOR IN FRONT of the cubbies!!! YES!! So I ask...unless you wield the whip? You must be hanging the coats.......all that aren't adorning a kitchen chair back ......: ) in the closet all by your lonesome self lol.

Translated, this means cubbies proliferate as mommy is ever optimistic, and thinks they are cute. The cubbies, not the kids.....
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Reach Design
6 years ago
Ok Jan, yes I hang the stupid coats! But I am optimistic that with age and maturity they will do it themselves eventually. LOL. I know optimistic. But even if I have to do it I still would rather hang it in the closet and shut the doors and not look at the messy hooks. I like me a minimalist environment... I do have some hooks and the only thing I want to see on it is a dog's leash and a scarf or too.... (and maybe a whip?!) That's the goal anyway.... and I will die trying to achieve it.

When we were shopping for a house a few years ago, I walked into one mudroom (3 kids and the husband travels or something), they had the hooks set up for each kid as in the photos above, except it didn't look like the photos above... Each set of hooks that stuffed so much that you couldn't actually see the hooks.... just piles and piles of coats sticking out. I nearly had a conniption....
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JAN MOYER
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Honey................ you're not only optimistic, you're shortening your life : ) Put a big plastic drop sheet on the garage floor. Every time a coat lands where it shouldn't toss it in the garage. Eventually.......they may get the HANG of it. That works for the mess in front anywhere. Even kids don't like their stuff out in the garage.
curlycook
6 years ago
My kiddos are grown now, but this thread is making me remember the struggle vividly! I'm a bit of a neatnik and had low hooks for my boys' items, but at first they rarely were used in favor of dropped on the floor. I would open the door and nudge the items onto the garage landing. When you must don cold coats in the morning, those hooks seem a little less overwhelming when you arrive home. Your mileage may vary, but my boys seemed to learn quickly when real world consequences happened. Talking at them.....not so much!
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greenfish1234
6 years ago
Ok what I came home to!
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C D
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I'm remodeling my kitchen to make room for a small mudroom area by the back door which goes to the garage....greenfish, I have that pile in the doorway between dining room and kitchen now, moving that pile to the back door mudroom area will be a step up for me, even if it's on the floor!

oh Jan Moyer, we had steam radiators and yes I remember the smell of the drying boots and mittens vividly lol
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Patio Lane
6 years ago
Hooks! And individual lockers for each family member, if you have the space. Also, a cozy bench cushion is an absolute must for taking shoes on and off!
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