I know it’s been a minute (okay, more like a lot of minutes) since I last wrote here, but I’m back today — and that’s what counts! Life has been a little hectic offscreen, so I took back some time by sharing fewer blog posts. I am hoping to return to regularly scheduled programming in the weeks and months ahead. I have to start somewhere, so here I am!
In the good ol’ days of blogging, inspiration round-ups were a thing. I don’t know if they still are… but I’m going with it. Though I can’t believe it, we moved into our house a little over four years ago. It was a labor of love to get in here — six months in the build process with years of planning leading up to the first shovel in the ground. While we were rounding out the final stretch of the build, certain “extras” got the chop. The first thing to go? Our mud room built-ins. We were doing our best to keep costs in check, so I took the decision in stride. However, we are now four years in this house and I am ready to make those first steps in our house a bit less chaotic.
The mudroom is currently a catch-all for shoes and coats. While there is an existing closet, it mostly holds the coats Chris and I wear. We need a place to capture backpacks and coats of various weights (since the weather is always changing in New England). It also holds a buffet that contains all our nice glassware and china. In an ideal sense, the built-ins could hold what the buffet contains… just up higher. It will be nice to have these items out of reach of little hands but in a way that is still accessible for us.
Currently, our mud room is painted in beautiful Benjamin Moore Van Deusen Blue. (It was the boldest paint choice we made in the house.) I loved it so much that we used it on our front door too! The floors are blue stone in a grayish hue. I could find the actual tile if I dug around a bit, but we’ll just use that description for now. This picture doesn’t do it justice, thanks to Instagram filters of 2016, but it will help give you a general idea. We also have killer pendant lights that I still love as much as the day they were installed. Now that I have set the scene, this brings me to the conundrum about how to make the space more functional for our family.
The current debate is whether I’ll want “exposed” (or hidden) cubbies. When I say exposed, I mean cubbies without a door. If I truly want the room to feel less cluttered, cabinet doors make sense. This same debate applies to the shoe storage: open or exposed? Additionally, will I want a cushion for the bench? (The worrywart in me worries about stains, though I know this could be overcome using durable, stain-resistant fabrics like Sunbrella.) Based on the photos above, my current idea is a mix of projects 6 + 8, taking the cabinets all the way to the ceiling — and mixing the open + closed look.
I’d love any input you have from experience (or from preference): should we have doors for the coat cubbies or leave them open? What do you think about shoe storage: use drawers / baskets or leave open space to the floor? Last but not least, should keep it simple with the bench or add some cushion for the tush? As always, I thoroughly appreciate any + all insight. More soon!
Love inspiration round-ups. I’ve got a dozen drafts of them for when we’re closer to being able to make changes to our home!
My vote is for YES cushion on the bench – besides making things more comfortable, it’s an easy way to add visual interest to the room. Personally, I hate sinking into a tangle of coats at my back when I’m sitting on a bench trying to put on shoes/wrangle a child, but it is a good way to double the use of space if you can’t designate another area for coats or a coat closet. Also, I love the look of open shelves with baskets on them! You’ll probably end up putting baskets on the shelves anyway to corral gloves and hats and whatever even if there are doors on, so you might as well just not use doors and pick pretty baskets.
THIS IS SO FUN let’s do more! haha 🙂
So many decisions! I have so many thoughts on a mud room. I highly recommend a cushion. Prior to ours I actually noticed the bench paint was chipping from wear and tear.
I recommend space underneath the bench for boots and shoes. They carry a lot of dirt and you don’t really want that ending up anywhere but on your floor.
Above our boot area we have space for baskets where we store hats and gloves. This allows the kids to reach them.
I love the ideas you have for the area above the coat racks – speaking of you can never have too many hooks so try to use double hooks wherever you can.
I’ll send you pics of our mud room offline. It came with our house and I’ve found it so useful! Have fun!