CREATING A MUDROOM: HOW THIS SIMPLE FIX HAS MADE MY LIFE EASIER

There are six people in our family. Four of them go to school. Two of them play competitive soccer. All of us wear shoes. All of us (well, some of us) wear coats and boots 5 months in the year. And all of us come and go like the door to our garage is revolving all day. There’s a lot happening at our house.

We don’t have a mudroom.

Let me repeat that. There are six people in our family. Four of them go to school. Two of them play competitive soccer….

We don’t have a mudroom.

We park our car in the garage, walk up 3 stairs, open the door and walk straight into our kitchen. There is no breezeway, no hallway, no nothing from the garage to our kitchen sink. That’s a lot of shoes, snowy boots, coats, backpacks, soccer cleats, roller blades and mess coming through that door. I’ve been tolerant for 7 years with the dirty tracks on my newly mopped wooden floor and with backpacks lining the walls and shoes as decorations. Total first world problems, I know, but one Saturday I was done. I decided it was time for our family to have a mudroom. And since I couldn’t exactly build one architecturally to our home, I created one with the extra space we had. Luckily our 3 car garage only needs to hold 2 cars. I saw that the extra space in the garage would work perfectly as a mudroom. All of that stuff wouldn’t even need to come in the house. WHOA! That’s a happy mom day.

I love what evolved with little planning. I knew I wanted to hang hooks for all the coats, backpacks, snow clothes, etc… so I went to my scrap wood pile, grabbed a hammer and nails and got busy. I made our family a mudroom space in ONE DAY and it has changed my life! It was too easy. So, if you’re struggling with the same thing I was, your home needs you for a day. Make it a date. You don’t need much. It’s time to get hooked on hooks.

Here’s how I did it. I had some extra pieces of bead board that I wasn’t using just sitting in my garage, so I started first with that. I decided how long I wanted my mud space to be, found the studs and hammered the bead board on. Then I took these longer boards and framed the bead board and created a strong hold for the hooks 1/3 of the way down. Then I caulked the seams, used some high gloss white paint, bought the hooks I wanted and screwed them in tight, threw down a carpet remnant and abracadabra…

We now have a mudroom.

We step out of our car with backpacks, coats, shoes and immediately hang them and leave them neatly in the garage. I can’t tell you how this simple little project has added value to my home and I must admit helped me in the sanity department too.

I’m in love with this space!

Do you have a space in your home that isn’t being used to its full capacity?

What could you do to enhance it?

Mandy

Mandy Cheney is a contributing blogger for PRIME RESIDENTIAL. A boutique Real Estate Brokerage that teaches clients how to create value and maximize their profit when buying or selling a home.