Mudrooms - Not Just for Muddy Boots

Remodeling your home can be challenging, but has many rewards.  One of the most common requests when doing a kitchen remodel is the addition of a mudroom, usually at the back or side entry, or off the garage entry.  A mudroom is the back-of-the-house cousin to the vestibule, which is an entrance room, or ante-chamber at the front of the house. The vestibule serves visitors and company; the mudroom serves the family.  Not remodeling your kitchen?  An enclosed but otherwise unused back porch may be remodeled and repurposed for new use in this way.

The purpose of the mudroom is to transition from the outside to inside, casting off the detritus of nature in a setting that is easily cleaned and maintained.  Typically, a mudroom will have a hard surface floor, such as tile or stone, which is often supplemented with a throw rug or mat to wipe off dirty or wet footwear, and to catch the moisture of a rainsoaked coat and hat.  It also acts as a slip-resistant surface.

When space allows, the mudroom will have seating to pull on snow boots or to remove dirty cleats, and contains storage for in-season coats, hats, umbrellas, gloves and the sporting equipment du jour.  Storage solutions include benches with lift-up tops or drawers, cubbies or wood lockers provided by the cabinet manufacturer to coordinate with your kitchen cabinets, hooks or pegs for keys and backpacks, bins for soccer balls and baseball gloves, and shelving for hats and returning library books. Depending on how your family lives, it may also be a space for household pets' items, such as food bowls, leashes and even the dog's bed or crate.  But that is the point:  how your family lives.  Have the space designed for your family's lifestyle; a good designer will interview you to glean this information and incorporate it into a great design for easy living.