Ahh, the mudroom! I am infatuated with this space in my house! Let me tell you why and how to turn a closet into a mudroom!
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We have two entrances to our house, the front porch entrance and the garage entrance. From the garage, there is no closet just the hallway that leads to the foyer. From the front porch, you enter directly into a relatively small foyer. Although it does feel a little bit spacey because it’s two stories high, I’ll give it that. We generally enter through the front door. Why? Because the garage is the workshop thus the minivan has been evicted. However, with a family our size, when we come in through the front door we tend to topple over each other. Why is that? Well, because the first person in is always one of the kids. Who decided to take their stuff off right there so nobody can pass by them. Like an inconsiderate driver going 40 on the highway. Can anybody relate?
The Problem
So far, for 9 out of the 10 years that we’ve lived in this house, there has been a closet in our foyer, at an angle from the front door. And inside that closet was a dark, small space with a wire shelving unit and long wire rack for hanging gear on the opposite wall.
Hey, maybe I’m not that great at organizing. Maybe I just wasn’t inspired to sacrifice the time. But no matter what time of the year it was it had all our seasonal gear in it. Plus our everyday use items and then some. It just didn’t work, period.
For years I had hoped to make the space become a mudroom, but with such a small area the big question was how? So, I did the usual. I’d go to Pinterest and Houzz. I’d look for ideas that I liked, but none of them could be copy-pasted into the space. Ultimately, I just picked out the elements that would work for a mudroom from each one of those ideas. I probably worked on this design for about two years – because we were too busy having unexpected babies and what not – to really give it any attention.
The Plan
When I finally put some effort into the design, I came up with a solution. First, we needed a space to hang outerwear. Double hanging rods would utilize the space much better than a single rod. I also loved the idea of a bench with hooks because it looks cute and cozy while being functional. Additionally, I really wanted this little closet to look like a mudroom, albeit small. One that we would actually enjoy using because of the aesthetics of it. Custom built-ins would help us achieve the look!
I realized that where the previous wire racking stood, was the best layout but not the most functional. We needed to be able to put shoes in there, but to hide it also. Therefore, we designed two different units for this space: one unit would contain double hanging coat rods with a shelf in the middle, and the other unit has cubbies for the shoes that we use the most often. These two units are butted up against each other, with the seam covered by the face frame. On the opposite wall, we made cubbies for baskets, a bench, and hooks on the wainscoting background.
The unit that has the bench, hooks and cubbies are actually three units. They are all connected to each other, and to the studs. All of these units were built using fairly simple and straightforward casework design. And of course, we can’t forget the lighting, we got this cute light fixture to complete the look.
Result
We’ve been living with the mudroom like this since fall 2018 and I can honestly say that even though it isn’t a large space, simply changing the functionality of the space has made a huge difference. Yes, it’s the same footprint. Yes, it’s the same size (even though many friends have asked us if we actually made this closet bigger). Winters in western New York are harsh and we usually have a lot of winter gear. Yet, I can honestly say that this closet was able to handle all of our winter gear without it feeling cluttered. I keep the off-season items in a temporary canvas-covered wire closet unit in the basement to keep us organized. That way only the stuff currently in use reside in the mudroom-closet.
Now this space is not only pretty on the eyes, but it’s highly functional. It also makes a great hiding place when I need a moment for myself. I’m not sharing this last cookie.
What about you? Do you hide to eat the last cookie? Tell us what you think about our closet mudroom; if you like it, share the inspiration. Tell us how you deal with your family’s avalanche of everyday gear in the comments below.
For similar items to what we’ve used check these out!
