The first room you enter in your home is typically a catch-all area for shoes, bags, sports gear and more. While some houses are designed with space for this clutter, other homes are in need of a designated junk drop area. Enter the DIY mudroom.
If you’re on a budget and cannot add square footage for your own mudroom, it’s still possible to create an organizational space within your home’s existing footprint — particularly if your home has a laundry room or small entry off the garage. You can even take a bit of space from the garage itself to keep clutter from landing inside. Here are a few tips to get you started:
Using the Laundry Room
A blank wall in a laundry room is a great space to create locker-type storage for coats, shoes, jackets and more. Building locker-type shelves with storage hooks and a floating bench here makes it easy for the family to get in the habit of dropping items in their designated space when entering your home.
Beneath the floating bench is the perfect place for baskets that can house each family members’ items, from schoolbooks during the school year to swim gear in the summer. Or each person can have his or her own laundry basket here. If your laundry room is too small, but your home has a coat closet nearby, removing its door and installing these types of shelves, hooks and a bench inside the closet is another simple storage solution.
Using an Entryway
While the same shelving and hooks suggested for the laundry room can also work in an entry, you do not have to rely on built-ins to create a mud space. Consider a bedroom dresser in a new light, by placing it in your entry and designating drawers for every family member. Once everyone becomes accustomed to using the dresser upon entering your home, clutter becomes less of an issue, and the search for those things you need when leaving home is less chaotic.
Atop the dresser is a great place to have designated holders for your keys and the daily mail, as well. A dry erase memo board hung above the dresser can make your mudroom a command central for family schedules and communication, too.
If space allows, a free-standing bench with baskets beneath it creates even more storage. A free-standing hat rack makes an entryway corner the designated jacket spot, or a clothing rack gives an industrial vibe to any entry.
Antique aficionados might find an old armoire to be not only stylish, but also functional as storage space. These often come with both a clothing bar and drawers, providing mudroom functionality without the mudroom feel.
None of these ideas require power tools or handyman skills, and all can be done using items you pick from other areas of your home or even find at yard sales, thrift stores or bargain outlets.
Using the Garage
Perhaps the best mudroom space is that which keeps clutter from even entering your home. The interior wall of your garage is where you’ll want to install your built-in lockers, shelving and bench. You may want to lay simple flooring or paint the cement to give a cleaner feel to this space.
Vintage lovers might consider using actual reclaimed school lockers against the wall for family cubbies. Basic wooden or plastic crates are inexpensive storage pieces that can be stacked or mounted to the walls to house anything from shoes to books, to sports balls and gear.
Metal shelves are right at home in a garage but are not just for tool storage. Why not give each family member his or her own shelf on which to create
their own storage? Boxes, bins and baskets can all be used however each person sees fit to organize their belongings that need to be available upon leaving the house.
While not necessary, a dressing screen is a simple way to differentiate between your garage mudroom and your parking space if you want to make the area more aesthetically pleasing.
So, if your home wasn’t built with a pre-existing mudroom, it doesn’t mean you’re doomed to a life of entryway clutter. Consider where you can carve out an organizational niche, then put some storage solutions to use. Once storing mudroom gear becomes habit, it just may be your favorite space in the house.
Written by Angel Morris
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