Is a mudroom/entry worth it? Most useful features?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Trying to decide whether to create a small mudroom/entry area, and wondering whether folks feel like having one is worth it? What do you have there? What features are most useful? Are there things you thought you'd use/appreciate that it turns out you actually don't really? Are there things about yours that don't work well or you wish were different? Any tips on layout?

(Extra-appreciated if you share the ages of your kids and give insight on what's needed/helpful/annoying in a mudroom when you have school-age kids and/or teens...)

I've had 2 and kids were pre K and elementary when each began it's use. Love the mud and what you do depends on the square footage and dimensions plus where the doors or openings are to outside/inside.

Won't need a bench when they are older. Use free standing plus solid wood free standing shelving. No drawers - debris easier to deal with from a shelf. Do double runs of hooks staggered so little people can use them. Carpenters used solid wood [painted same white as trim] and attached to studs in the walls.

Prior mud area was small square with closet and 3 ft built in bench - double row hooks above.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone please provide photos? Particularly interested in seeing the garage conversion. I am not Op but I am dreaming as well

[Anonymous]

We have a mudroom between the garage entrance and the rest of the ground floor of the house, and find it extremely useful. No kids. It contains a large coat closet, supplementing one for guests in the main entrance foyer. It also has washer/dryer hookups to make it into a second laundry room (our primary laundry room is on the second floor), although we have not actually added a washer/dryer. It has a utility sink and plenty of cabinets. The flooring is a laminate, distinct from wooden flooring throughout the rest of the house, giving us a place to take off wet shoes/boots. There is a bench in there to use when putting on or taking off shoes/boots.

We consider it not only worth it, but essential. We'd otherwise have the keep shoes and boots in the garage itself and would not have a way to easily fill buckets, a place to clean golf clubs, would only have a small main level coat closet, and would miss the extra cabinetry where we store bicycling and motorcycle clothing, helments, gloves, and some odds and ends like spare batteries and cleaning supplies.

[Anonymous]

I'm Canadian and a mudroom/entry is almost a must! It's so nice to be able to drop your stuff and have a dedicated zone for jackets/mitts/shoes/boots/backpacks etc. And not have to look at it when you're just chilling in the living room.

You can do something very small too, it doesnt have to be a huge space waster. Even something like this is super helpful (though I prefer more closed storage) https://thehappyfarmhouse.com/diy-turning-a-closet-into-a-mudroom/

[Anonymous]

Most important space in the house for keeping the house clean and organized.

[Anonymous]

i recommend a granite bench because wood gets absolutely destroyed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We recently converted a small one car garage to a mudroom laundry room and it was so expensive (I’ll never admit how much) but it’s been already such a massive change to the family - having everything contained makes the rest of the house nicer and cleaner, getting in and out is a breeze where before it would take forever to get everyone’s bags and things compiled. We went from literally nothing to this so maybe it wouldn’t have been such a change if it starting from zero

Kids ages 3 and 5

Would you mind sharing the cost. We are thinking of doing the same thing. We have a 1 car garage that we actually don't use for a car because it's too small. We would rather keep some for storage but turn it into a mud room/laundry room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We recently converted a small one car garage to a mudroom laundry room and it was so expensive (I’ll never admit how much) but it’s been already such a massive change to the family - having everything contained makes the rest of the house nicer and cleaner, getting in and out is a breeze where before it would take forever to get everyone’s bags and things compiled. We went from literally nothing to this so maybe it wouldn’t have been such a change if it starting from zero

Kids ages 3 and 5

Would you mind sharing the cost. We are thinking of doing the same thing. We have a 1 car garage that we actually don't use for a car because it's too small. We would rather keep some for storage but turn it into a mud room/laundry room.

Sure - $110 k (included a bit of extra work since the garage didn’t have a door into the house, and we had to do a little kitchen reconfiguration to accommodate)

Where the cost varied must was of course cabinetry - just like a kitchen. We didn’t get a lot of cabinets but did have custom ones to maximize the space

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We recently converted a small one car garage to a mudroom laundry room and it was so expensive (I’ll never admit how much) but it’s been already such a massive change to the family - having everything contained makes the rest of the house nicer and cleaner, getting in and out is a breeze where before it would take forever to get everyone’s bags and things compiled. We went from literally nothing to this so maybe it wouldn’t have been such a change if it starting from zero

Kids ages 3 and 5

Would you mind sharing the cost. We are thinking of doing the same thing. We have a 1 car garage that we actually don't use for a car because it's too small. We would rather keep some for storage but turn it into a mud room/laundry room.

Sure - $110 k (included a bit of extra work since the garage didn’t have a door into the house, and we had to do a little kitchen reconfiguration to accommodate)

Where the cost varied must was of course cabinetry - just like a kitchen. We didn’t get a lot of cabinets but did have custom ones to maximize the space

Thank you! We have the same issue with no door into the house.

[Anonymous]

A mudroom is an absolute necessity where I live. I have a friend with two hound dogs, and hers has a dog washing station and I envy that.

Our washer and dryer are taking up dog wash space.

The mudroom saves most of the chaos and dirt from migrating through the house.

[Anonymous]

I could not imagine not having one. Ours connects our garage to the kitchen. All the sports equipment lives in your garage, but the Mudroom has shoes, bookbags, jackets, key, goodwill boxes, etc. I only wish ours were bigger. It also has our broom closet in it and is the passthrough to the pantry.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in a house with a garage, and I miss it. Ours had a washer/dryer, a laundry sink, and a wall of shoes. My dream laundry room would include a place to sit and hang coats.

Maybe this shoe bench:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/537489907/42-inch-two-shelf-in-your-choice-of?click_key=f130bbf59702c28a28141f06141035f29ed56bee%3A537489907&click_sum=a2606626&ref=shop_home_recs_47&frs=1&sts=1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a house with a mud room, and I miss it. Ours had a washer/dryer, a laundry sink, and a wall of shoes. My dream laundry room would include a place to sit and hang coats.

Maybe this shoe bench:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/537489907/42-inch-two-shelf-in-your-choice-of?click_key=f130bbf59702c28a28141f06141035f29ed56bee%3A537489907&click_sum=a2606626&ref=shop_home_recs_47&frs=1&sts=1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Trying to decide whether to create a small mudroom/entry area, and wondering whether folks feel like having one is worth it? What do you have there? What features are most useful? Are there things you thought you'd use/appreciate that it turns out you actually don't really? Are there things about yours that don't work well or you wish were different? Any tips on layout?

(Extra-appreciated if you share the ages of your kids and give insight on what's needed/helpful/annoying in a mudroom when you have school-age kids and/or teens...)

We did this a couple of years ago and it made a 100% difference in my feeling peaceful in the space. We don't have a separate mudroom but we do have a sizable foyer. We tried with a bench/hooks/cubbies first, and it just didn't work. Everything was always dumped there, kids didn't bother put shoes in cubbies and it was just full on visual clutter.

What we did is build a row of closed door lockers along one wall of the foyer, full height. We have 3 kids; each one got one full length locker. Locker contains shoes, coats, backpacks, upper shelf for homework binders, upper cabinets for seasonal clothes, tennis rackets, helmets etc. Then we painted it to match the wall color. Now it is bliss - they put everything inside, close the door and it's nice and orderly. There is room for a small bench too. Opposite the lockers we have a huge mirror and a sideboard type thing, which serves as a drop off for keys and mail, and adult shoes inside. Adult coats go into a separate coat closet off the foyer. I will try to attach a photo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trying to decide whether to create a small mudroom/entry area, and wondering whether folks feel like having one is worth it? What do you have there? What features are most useful? Are there things you thought you'd use/appreciate that it turns out you actually don't really? Are there things about yours that don't work well or you wish were different? Any tips on layout?

(Extra-appreciated if you share the ages of your kids and give insight on what's needed/helpful/annoying in a mudroom when you have school-age kids and/or teens...)

We did this a couple of years ago and it made a 100% difference in my feeling peaceful in the space. We don't have a separate mudroom but we do have a sizable foyer. We tried with a bench/hooks/cubbies first, and it just didn't work. Everything was always dumped there, kids didn't bother put shoes in cubbies and it was just full on visual clutter.

What we did is build a row of closed door lockers along one wall of the foyer, full height. We have 3 kids; each one got one full length locker. Locker contains shoes, coats, backpacks, upper shelf for homework binders, upper cabinets for seasonal clothes, tennis rackets, helmets etc. Then we painted it to match the wall color. Now it is bliss - they put everything inside, close the door and it's nice and orderly. There is room for a small bench too. Opposite the lockers we have a huge mirror and a sideboard type thing, which serves as a drop off for keys and mail, and adult shoes inside. Adult coats go into a separate coat closet off the foyer. I will try to attach a photo.