3 Mudroom Must-Haves For Any Active Family
A mudroom is such a useful space in a home and sometimes gets forgotten about when designing a home, or maybe even searching for a new home. I like to call the mudroom the drop zones of the home. Typically, this room would be the first room where your family enters the home on a regular basis. So naturally, this would be where you take your shoes and coats off, hang any purses or backpacks up, etc. It keeps items, and dirt, corralled in one space from season to season! Today, I will be sharing 3 mudroom must-haves to achieve this.
1. Flooring Solutions
When designing a mudroom, flooring is especially important to pay attention to. Like I mentioned before, the mudroom is the room that your family will be entering and exiting on a regular basis. Depending on the weather, you will most likely be dragging in all types of dirt and debris. You will want to choose a flooring that will withstand mud, water, dirt, and daily traffic.
What type of flooring is best, you ask? According to Collin, the store manager of Floors Now! in Newington, CT,
The best type of flooring to use in a mudroom is luxury vinyl or tile. Both are water proof, slip resistant (with the right texture), and are very durable. Tile is typically the most used option as it is the most scratch resistant, however, luxury vinyl has a lower profile and doesn’t require the same thickness of substrate that tile does. So in some cases luxury vinyl is preferred.
Want to make things even easier to maintain in your mudroom? Collin also says,
As for ease of cleaning, a sheet vinyl would be the best option. Followed by a luxury vinyl, with tile in the rear due to the grout requiring more upkeep. As always, we recommend a good scraper mat where you can get the majority of grime off your shoes prior to going inside.
2. Storage & Organization
A mudroom is an excellent place for extra storage and also for storing your day-to-day items. This is, after all, the drop zone. When figuring out storage and organization solutions, you will want to think of items that will be kept in the mudroom. Some possible items could be: coats, backpacks, purses, shoes, snow pants, sporting equipment, dog supplies (leash, bags, food, etc), cleaning supplies, laundry supplies (if you have a washer/dryer in the same room too). If you have kids, custom built-ins to create cubbies or spaces for each child is a game changer with hooks on the wall for their bags and coats.
I suggest either leaving the space open underneath the bench, or creating a shelf underneath the bench. I DO NOT suggest putting drawers, baskets, or anything with a cover underneath the bench. It may look pretty, however, you will probably find that in the long run, it will not be as functional. Let’s face it, when your kids, and you, get home, everyone will most likely want to kick take their shoes off as fast as possible. Well, with an opening underneath the bench closest to the floor, you can just kick the shoes right underneath so they are out of the way instead of having to take your shoes off, open a drawer or pull out a basket, pick up the shoes, then put the shoes inside the drawer/basket, then push the basket or drawer back in. TOO MANY STEPS!
3. Well-Placed Seating
Lastly, having a bench for people to put on and possibly take off their shoes (if they aren’t stepping out of them and kicking them somewhere) is an important part of the design of a mudroom. If possible, you will also want to try and place the seating as close to the door as possible to stop the least amount of debris going in and out of the area.
Now that you know the must-haves for your mudroom in terms of construction and design, don’t forget to add the “icing on the cake”. The final touches. Your style and personality! You can add some decorations, a plant, some pillows on your bench to make it feel more welcoming. You may decide that this is where you want your kids to hang their artwork from school too. The possibilities are endless! Get creative and have some fun!
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