• By FOXCRAFT
• In Newsletters

Mudrooms: The Secret to a Well-Organized and Clean Home

One of the best solutions to keeping your entire home clean and your family organized and ready for anything is the mudroom.  Foxcraft clients love to add these spaces to their
remodel projects — sometimes as part of larger remodels and sometimes as separate projects — because they provide excellent organization and storage, cleanliness and functionality.

• Organization and Storage: Mudrooms provide places for virtually anything that needs to be handy near a door to the outside – perhaps a rack for hanging backpacks, coats and jackets, and a place to store shoes and sports equipment.  Storage can include just a few cubbies or
  more ample cabinets or both.  Mudrooms often make perfect laundry rooms.  Dirty clothes go into hampers and then straight into the washer.  Other features we’ve installed in these everyday entrance spaces include:
• Coat closets
• Shoe racks
• Storage for dog leashes and other pet supplies, a place to put feeding bowls and litter boxes and even a pet-wash station.
• Work stations for simple computer tasks and bill paying
• Benches to sit on while lacing on or removing shoes
• Recycling bins
• Baskets for hats, gloves and scarves
• Key hooks
• Repair workbenches with storage for small tools

• Cleanliness: A mudroom provides a portal to trap dirt and keep it from being tracked throughout the house. Familymembers can leave muddy shoes and other soiled clothes there. Add utility mats or area rugs to the floor to help collect additional dirt from shoes.  Make sure the mats are non-skid and washable. Install an easy-to-clean floor. Vinyl, tile, stone and concrete are all non-porous materials that don’t require much maintenance.

• Functionality: Pick an entrance to your home near the most used area of the house.  Unfortunately, kitchens, for example, can be near driveways and backyards making them mudrooms by default. Garages are often transition areas from the outside so when you add a garage, add a mudroom too. Or you can convert a section of an existing garage. Utility rooms also make good mudrooms if they
  have outside entrances. If you have a door separating it from the rest of the house, you might enjoy an energy-saving buffer because outdoor air won’t enter.  Make sure entry doors are airtight. A bath-type exhaust fan with a timer is a nice addition – be sure to vent it outdoors, of course. Also consider a heated floor to help the room dry faster and to get the moisture out of shoes and other clothes.

We’re experts at designing and building mudrooms and all types of everyday entrances to suit any family’s lifestyle.  Please contact us to see whether a mudroom makes sense for your home.