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.

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...)
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 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
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.
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
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...)