A few weeks ago, on Mother’s Day, I awoke not to the predictable breakfast in bed of rubber eggs and cold coffee but to the screech of a power saw.
My husband, Dan, was at work in the garage. My heart turned a happy somersault because finally, after almost four years in this home, I was getting my mudroom makeover.
I’ve never understood why so many people, including me, spend so much more time and energy fluffing up the main entrance to their home with nice furniture and art, while leaving the room they really use to come and go – the transitional room off the garage – looking like a cross between a tool shed and a laundromat. Who’s more important, the guests we have once every couple of months or we who pay the mortgage?
Our mudroom/laundry room wasn’t even fit for the dogs.
True, lacking any built-in organization, the room was an obstacle course of backpacks, gym bags, coats, lethal sports equipment, muddy shoes, grit, garden tools and dirty laundry. Nothing about it said, “Welcome home.” Instead it said, “Turn around! Get out while you still can!”
This neglected, overused space had not had one upgrade since we moved in. But finally that was changing. Don’t tell my husband, but postponing home improvements has an upside. When you put off a project – and delay is the norm in my home – your house begins to tell you what it needs.
For instance, if I’d built the mudroom out Day 1, I wouldn’t have foreseen that this space would need to accommodate a horseback rider, a soccer player, a trail runner and a golfer. Or that people who weigh less than 70 pounds could consume so much real estate.
I also never imagined throwing myself across the threshold between this room and the rest of the house and saying, “Don’t take another step until you have a funeral for those gym shoes, which smell like stale starfish.”
So my mood soared with the music of Dan’s hammering and sawing. My made-over mudroom will have a bench with storage, bead-board wainscoting, coat hooks, a hat shelf and a cushier place for the dogs. If we do it right, however, it will offer more than a comfortable place to take off shoes and hang coats.
My hope is that whether we’re coming in from work, shopping, the yard, the barn, the jogging trail, the soccer field, the golf course, or from burying a bone, this room will say, “Welcome Home.”
Marni Jameson is a nationally syndicated columnist living in the Denver area. Contact her through marnijameson.com.
A makeover calls for a list of musts
If you get the chance to make over your mudroom, here is my list of mudroom musts, developed after four years of dreaming about it:
Design for your family, not someone else’s. Don’t just stick up hooks and shelves. Figure out the best way to configure your space for your household needs. For instance, a home with a hockey player could use a tall cubby space for sticks and knee pads, and a sturdy hook to hang skates.
Sketch it out. Then measure the space and buy supplies to build shelves, a bench, and a coat rack. Or buy these items ready-made to fit your space.
Cut visual clutter by covering it. Have cabinets as opposed to open shelving, closets with doors, and boxed in rather than plank benches.
Other mudroom must-haves include …
Coat hooks. Plan on two hooks for every member of the household, and one for the dog’s leash. Make a hook rack by screwing heavy-duty hooks into a 1-by-4-inch piece of painted or stained wood.
Key tray. Depending on how your home functions, this may be a place to put a series of smaller hooks for keys, or a key bowl, and a basket for mail.
Easy-to-clean surfaces. Install easy-to-wipe counters of ceramic tile or laminate; walls or wainscoting painted in semi-gloss or varnished, hard floors of wood, stone or nonskid tile; and a durable area rug that blends with grime.
Functional closet. If the room has a closet, consider two poles, the lower one at a good height for kids. Or add a shelf tower for hats, scarves, umbrellas and gloves.
A bench. Provide a place to sit down and remove shoes. Even better, have a bench that doubles as a storage bin.
Message board and mirror. A small chalkboard for messages and a mirror to check your hair before you dash out the door.
Art. Hang something pretty in the mudroom, something that says, “Aren’t you glad to be home?”
