Mudroom On My Mind

By Kate Riley October 24, 2011

I think it’s safe to say that most of us busy ladies dream of a perfect mudroom.  Especially if you’ve got kids.  Oh me oh my, just staring at all the colorful coordinated organization of all this real life stuff makes my heart go Pitter Patter with a capital P. 

bhg mudroom 2

bhg mudroom

house beautiful mudroom

House Beautiful

I’ve never shown you our floor plan before, here it is. I dug this up out of some old documents from 6 years ago.  You can see where our rooms all sit in relation to each other. We have a 2 ½ garage, meaning there are two spots for our cars, and a space to the right for extra stuff.  My latest idea is to take over part of our garage to construct  a mudroom.

 

house plan lower level

 

Are ya ready to see what the garage looks like now?  Trust me, it’s completely uninspiring.

corner of garage

See what I mean?  Yes, that’s the corner of my garage.  That’s where I store my tools and paint supplies, etc.  No comment on the mister’s boxing heavy bag, ahem.   

And as you can see, I am not using this space to its maximum potential.  No it isn’t pretty, but I haven’t been one to complain in years past.  We have a decent workbench and a little wine storage cabinet, what more do you need in life?  

But I do, oh I do. 

I have a mudroom on my mind, one that will go here:

garage workbench before

Now that the kids are growing up and playing a lot of sports, I have no place to store all the gear so I really do want to transform this space into a functioning mudroom.  It’s been on my mind for many months now. In my head, I’m transforming this corner of my garage to work much better for the family.

 

future mudroom in garage

 

I have visions dancing around in my head of a place to store bulk items and kid gear.  Hardwood floors! Tongue & groove paneling! Built in benches and cubbies! Amen.  Plus if I refashion the workbench, I’ll still have a place to putter around on projects and a place for the tool chest too. 

future mudroom maybe

 

I’ll need to frame up some walls and the cost of all of my ideas will add up fast, so I entered my mudroom idea in the Arrow Fastener Dream Room Contest – they’re offering someone a chance to win a $10,000 makeover, so I say count me IN.  Cause I could build myself one heck of a mudroom with that kind of cash.

arrow fastener contest

You could win it too, just like them on Facebook (click here) and submit your idea by telling a brief story and uploading an image or two. 

So that’s my latest scheme, my friends. 

My hope is to turn this ho hum view of my rear entry . . .

back garage door before 

 

Into something that looks a little more like this…

bhg mudroom 1

Fingers crossed I can make it happen sometime next year!     

 

 

*All mudroom images via Better Homes & Gardens, unless otherwise specified. This post sponsored by the Arrow Fastener Dream Room Contest.

31 comments

  1. Oooo, my fingers are crossed that you’ll win and get your project paid for! As soon as I glanced at your project plans I was screaming in my head “Do it!!” That will be so nice for you and your family. I am dying to have a pretty, organized mudroom. I have a room that has the potential to be one, but we’re renting so I can’t do anything with it. And as it is now it’s more or less just a porch that got closed in with windows. No wiring for light fixtures or anything. {sigh}. Someday I’ll have my perfect mudroom. I hope you get yours much sooner than that!

  2. I’ve had the exact same thought about our garage. The wall with the door to our house is definitely not being used to its maximum potential. And, since we always park in the garage, it’s not the nicest thing to look at when we first come home. Sometimes I think it’s not worth fixing up so nicely since the rest of the garage always seems quite messy. We store a lot of stuff in there, and it’s also where I keep all the furniture and other thrifted items I buy in hopes of turning them into something fabulous. But maybe if I did fix up that wall it would motivate me to keep the garage more tidy and spiffy?

    Amazing lineup for the Haven conference!!! I can hardly wait!

  3. Oh I feel you! And i can sooo see a mudroom in that section of your garage. Someone just told me to turn a portion of our garage into my office or studio for my furniture… This post just made me want to do it even more! $10,000 huh? hmmmm:)

  4. Now only if they could stay clean and organized like those pictures! I have more shoes in my mudroom than my closet! And the daughter seems to think the living room is the mud room.

  5. I’ve been thinking of making some built ins for our mess on and off for the last few years, but seriously in the last month. I hope to take a stab at concocting something this winter. Glad to see someone else is out for the same adventure!

  6. I’d love to enter and steal this from you, but I have absolutely no space for a mudroom. I need it with two (four-legged) kids and mechanic husband and all the dirt they bring in, but it’s just not an option :( Good luck!

  7. Soo, question. If one had the monies and wherewithall to have one of those there mudrooms, where do you find the cubbies? Are they custom built? Or can you buy a bank of lockers like in the top picture?

    • Hey Les, I’d love to have them custom built if I won !!! But I’m sure there are plenty of DIY solutions, Ana White has a ton of ideas, she’s always inspiring, so we might build them ourselves instead!
      Kate

  8. I have been dreaming of a mudroom. We don’t really have a lot of room, but I drew up a plan anyway. It required that we take out the back closet, move the washer and dryer to a different wall (re-routing the dryer vent and the water) and, finally, building lockers. I gave the plan to my husband. He looked at me like I had 4 heads. I put my dream on the back shelf and started painting instead.

  9. We live in an apartment with an every expanding family and the idea of a mudroom is divine but not a reality. I usually convert a wall near the entrance into a faux mudroom aka easy access for all the kids things! Good luck and hope you win!

  10. Sounds like a lovely plan! I can’t wait to see how it turns out. We spend the weekend cleaning out our garage and I’m doing my best to organize the kid’s sport stuff and toys. I would love to make room for a mudroom!

    Kacey

  11. Love all the mudroom pics. I have a 2 car garage & it’s 25′ deep, so ended up bumping out the rear of the kitchen (into garage space) for a butler’s pantry. It’s the best home improvement I’ve accomplished to date ;)

  12. That would be lovely, converting part of the garage. Why don’t builders put mudrooms in houses and leave out the formal dining rooms, which are useless? Let’s revolt! Love all your ideas and pictures. I have quite a stash on Pinterest, which is where I dream of a future mudroom.

  13. Love that second shot with those wide drawers. Swoon! A mudroom sounds like a great addition for you guys…I’d kill to just have a garage. ;) This is a pretty cool contest!

  14. What is it about looking at organized, pretty mudrooms that makes us all swoon? I was just thinking about starting a new Pinterest board of mudrooms — there are so many drool worthy pictures out there of them. And ditto about the need to deal with sports equipment (and smelly cleats :).

  15. Go orange and super classy. Anything too pale and your wiping forever! Sort of defeats the purpose of “mudroom”.

  16. Do it you’ll love it. They’re pretty and practical. We have one. WOWZER!!!!! Do it, do it, do it!! If you do it yourself it won’t cost as much.

  17. I forgot, if you can include a sink of some kind its marvelous. Nothing like washing out paint brushes or cleaning up messes or whatever IN THE MUDROOM!! How soon can you start!!

  18. Your garage looks pretty inspiring to me. You should see mine- stuff from seven sons who play sports and run a neighbourhood lawn mowing business. I’d love mine to look as tidy, clean and organized as yours does right now.

  19. You hit the nail on the head. A mudroom should be a requirement for every home; like indoor plumbing. I’m now going to close my eyes and hope that when I open them, the lovely aqua blue mudroom shown in the second picture is waiting for me…..

  20. i wish we had the space for one. i have dreamed of knocking out a door on a closet and turning it into one, but it just won’t work…because that’s our only storage in our small town home with no garage, but in the forever house we are dreaming of, there will be a mudroom!!
    go for it!

  21. Do it! We have the same spot in our garage that we have been scheming about doing the same thing. The mudroom would connect to the back door on one end and pop through a wall that connects to the front entry on the other end, which will make it ultra functional no matter what door we use to enter the house. I’m excited to see how you put yours together!

  22. You should totally do it. I long for a mudroom. I’m tired of shoes, boots, jackets, hats, scarves, dog essentials, etc. being crammed in a small front entrance closet. You have no idea how lucky you are to live where it’s warm and you don’t need umpteen jackets, etc. depending on what the weather may be like.
    I can’t wait to see what you do. I would enter the contest, but I really don’t have anywhere to construct a mudroom!

  23. Love the mudroom ideas. I’d like a mudroom fairy to come to my house. And on a side note, the nervous mom in me worries about you having your floor plan on the internet. It feels like a lot of personal info to know about your family’s home.

    • Thanks so much Kathy for your concern! I don’t publish my address, so I’m hoping no one can recognize my house from a floor plan ! I appreciate your thoughtfulness!
      Kate

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