Planning a Mudroom

Create a well-designed space that makes your home more user-friendly and efficient.

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Photo by: Photographer: Chris Constantine

Photographer: Chris Constantine

By: Jeannie Matteucci

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Mudrooms have a plain name, but they can be a key space that makes your entire home more attractive and productive. When designed properly, mudrooms give you that user-friendly space for storage of items for the daily commute, hobbies, pets or sports. They also create a buffer zone from the world outside and keep your floors free from mud and other debris. Mudrooms bring order to a messy house and your daily schedule.

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"As our lives are more complicated and busy, mudrooms have become even more important," says architect Deborah Pierce of Pierce Lamb Architects and author of the book The Accessible Home. "They're a catchall for the stuff that gets in the way, a space to safeguard clothes, a way to keep entrances uncluttered, and to make your home cleaner and safer."

For those reasons and more, mudrooms are useful in different types of climates. From keeping out snow and dirt to sand and allergens, mudrooms give you that transitional space as you move from the outdoors to the interior of your home.

"The sheer amount of stuff in our climate is overwhelming — the boots, the gloves, the coats," says architect Ron Brenner of Ron Brenner Architects. “You just have to think about what you need and want the space to be. A Midwestern farmhouse mudroom will have different priorities than a mudroom in a retirement home in Scottsdale, Ariz."

From a simple bench with hooks above to a large mudroom with extras like a potting bench or charging station, mudrooms come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Take the time to access your personal needs, think about your budget, incorporate the right storage solutions, and create the mudroom that works for your family and lifestyle.

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