The unsung hero in your home and probably the least talked about is the mudroom. It’s where you dump all your boots, shoes, sweaty clothing and winter gear before you come into the main house. The mudroom keeps the rest of the house clean and organized without really do anything at all except just being there.
Some homes, unfortunately, don’t have a mudroom and those folks are forced to dump all their outdoor stuff near the front door of the main house. Just like us. In the winter when I’m outside blowing snow off the driveway and sidewalk I come into the house and take off my wet jacket and wet boats and have no place to put them to dry. So I hang them on the front doorknob and put my boots along the wall next to the front door. Nice look, right? Water is dripping and melting and I have to get a towel and dry the floor. We don’t have a mudroom and I’m privately jealous of all those folks who do. I’m not envious of other things these people have that force me to secretly run out and buy. But I want a mudroom and I have no place for one. There is one alternative to having a mudroom inside the house and that is to put a “Hotdog heater” in the garage and make space for one there. I’ve seen this done and I have to say I like it. But that requires insulating the garage and calling a plumber to install the heater near the ceiling. A heated garage with a mudroom is a wonderful idea and is a double benefit. Warm car and a mudroom at the same time. Now that’s a thought that will fester.
Mudrooms are not new. In England they’re called the “boot room” and that seems obvious and boot rooms have been around for centuries. Farmers have mudrooms and I completely understand that, too. But very few, if any, homes built in metropolitan areas of Wisconsin from 1920 to 1980 have mudrooms. Did the builders not realize that we live in a climate that’s cold and wet? Mudrooms are a little bit of a luxury and became popular much later in the 1900s and now almost all new homes have them. The mudroom doubles as the laundry room and it’s perfect. Great idea and planning. This moves the laundry room right off the garage and the house stays neat and clean.
I love mudrooms that have padded benches where you can sit and lockers to hold specific items and on top of the lockers there are baskets or cabinets for everything else. Some cabinets are open and some are closed and you can have fun with these kinds of rooms. Paint the room fun colors and the floor can be ceramic or vinyl tile as long as it’s easy to wipe clean.
Most of the time a mudroom is a must-have item if you have kids but in our home, we are outdoor people with no kids and we could desperately use a mudroom. I am putting the garage idea in my wishlist of items to consider for the winter.
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