Me and my Mud (Room)

Long ago, the mudroom of a house was the area between the outside of the house and the inside. In winter ice and snow, and in spring with constant rain, this room with it’s tile floor was a barrier to keep mud off the finished wood floors of the house proper. In households with animals such as horses, you can imagine the dirt that otherwise would have been tracked inside.

Nowadays, I hear clients referring to their “mudroom” but most often I find it is the laundry room between the garage and the kitchen. We have been referring to this as the “Family Foyer” because guests use the formal front door, but the family goes in and out this informal “mudroom”. For families with children, this room can become a problem as the kids routinely dump the coats, backpacks, shoes and sporting equipment on the floor when they come home. What can be done?

We have been working in some solutions to such an area and making it pull double duty. This can be a place to store out of season outerwear and shoes if we can build up to the ceiling. (mittens/hats/ beach towels/ flip flops) Depending on how large the area is, we can create cubbies, often with coat hooks and a place to sit so that it’s easy to hang up the coats and back packs and put on, take off, and store shoes and boots. It’s also a great place for mom and dad to park some of their gear so it doesn’t wind up on the kitchen counters. A “charging” zone can be created for the various rechargeable devices (phones, cameras, GPS, laptop, I-pods) that could develop into a snake nest of wires in the more public parts of you home.


If the laundry equipment is already in this room, dirty jackets, uniforms, and socks can be sorted and placed directly into the washer or hamper reducing the steps back and forth. If you have a laundry tub in there, you’ve probably already been wiping the dog’s paws before he gets into the house, so I guess we can continue to call it the Mud Room.

Bring your room dimensions to us and we’ll show you a few ways we can help you manage the mud.
-Julie Hendrickson