5 Ingredients for a Fabulous Mudroom Makeover

Organization is key for any mudroom, but when space is limited you’ll need all you can get. Learn the 5 best tips for organizing your small mudroom or entryway.

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When you have a family you seem to accumulate all the stuff. How many times have you come in from your garage or front door and tripped over piles of shoes, backpacks or underwear? Hey, no judgment here, I know some kids like to come home from school and immediately strip down into their comfiest clothes only to go veg out in front of the TV until mom gets home.

What happens when these daily piles of clutter slowly grow into miniature mountains as the week drags on?

Pure chaos. Mornings in my home were our very own frazzled version of Groundhog Day.

My teenager searching for his favorite hoodie only to find it crumpled up in the corner of the dining room floor, just in time to catch the bus for school. My husband steadily juggling a screaming toddler in each arm attempting to locate the favorite stuffed animal of the day. And me. Running in circles, while my face turned red and I sweated bullets trying to track down my keys in an attempt to not be late for work.  

The phrase “I can’t live like this anymore!” came out of my mouth on a daily basis and the clutter was out of control.

We already had this small drop zone area off of our garage entry for organization, but it just wasn’t functioning for us.

TIME FOR A MUDROOM MAKEOVER

I always wanted a gorgeous grand mudroom complete with wall to wall lockers for each of my kids to hang their coats and backpacks. Today’s homebuilders are incorporating this design trend of large family ready spaces and there’s no denying why many homeowners love them. It adds a layer of organization and beauty to any home.

But this site is all about working with what you’ve got and appreciating the changes you’ve made to your house, so you can love the home you have. So how do you get started?

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO CREATE A FABULOUS MUDROOM FOR YOUR HOME?

You don’t have to have an entire room dedicated to your mudroom area. You can transform tiny spaces and small entryways into creative and organized areas. And since space is often the biggest factor in how to update any area, I’ve put together a list of 5 ingredients you can combine for your own mudroom makeover.

Ingredient 1: Seating

While having a designated seating area isn’t going to make or break the style of your mudroom, it does have some pretty big appeal to it. Obviously, it’s crucial for showcasing some gorgeous pillows like the ones I found below from one of my favorite small shops.

I love adding pillows with a variety of patterns and textures to a bench to make it feel more inviting and comfortable.

But seating isn’t only for looks, it’s there to serve a function. Having a bench area in your mudroom can make it so much easier for your family to get ready and head out the door. Especially when you’re trying to sit your squirmy toddler down so you can tie their shoes. Or if you just need a small space to stash something important that you need to grab before dashing off to work.

Lucky for us, the builder already incorporated seating into our mudroom, so I spruced it up with a fresh coat of white paint and some new pillows.

Ingredient 2: Coat Hooks

Even if you’re fortunate enough to have a coat closet near your entryway, there’s no denying the ease that comes with strolling in from a busy work day and just draping your coat and purse on a nearby hook. Not having to fight a tangled mess of hangers or search for an empty one for that matter… what’s not to like?

My husband, he may be kind, but God knows tidiness isn’t exactly one of his strengths. Every time I venture into a closet to hang something up, what starts as a 30-second task turns into me fighting a web of hangers until I’m out of breath and give up tossing the item onto the floor muttering under my breath.

Needless to say, I’m in love with the simplicity of having coat hooks in a mudroom to make our days more effortless.

I purchased these coat hooks from Amazon and I love the farmhouse look of them. They’re surprisingly sturdy too, and manage to hold my ridiculously heavy laptop bag without even bending. We could have easily just attached these hooks to the wall, but I wanted to give our mudroom more of a built-in feel.

Our wall has an awkward angle so I settled on creating a white shiplap wall as the background to make it stand out. A fresh coat of paint on the walls and trim helped to finish off the project.

Ingredient 3: Storage

You can never have too much storage, and the mudroom is an area where you don’t want to skimp. If you’re fortunate enough to have an area where you can install shelving or cabinets then go for it!

Our mudroom had this cabinet installed above the bench, but I decided that it needed to be installed much higher to leave enough room for longer items to hang on the hooks. I think it made a huge difference in making the mudroom feel and appear taller. I also opted to switch out the cabinet knobs to a more industrial door pull to play off of the black coat hooks on the wall.

We use this cabinet every day to store seasonal items like hats and gloves for the kids in the winter or beach towels and sunscreen for and quick and easy grab on the way out to the pool. Being the anti-clutter mom that I am though, I decided this still wasn’t enough storage so I opted for this long shallow basket to go underneath the bench as a catch-all for the kids.

And boy does it catch it all….shoes, toys, half-eaten goldfish crackers. My two-year-old daughter is the food hoarder of the house. I have a feeling I have her to thank for the ant trail I’ve been seeing in the playroom lately.

Ingredient 4: A Gorgeous Rug

I’m a huge fan of incorporating rugs into practically every space of the home. Check out my post here where I show you how to use an area rug to anchor a space down to make it feel more complete.

A rug is the perfect way to tie this small space together and bonus, it catches all the junk your kids bring inside from their shoes. Yuck. But the entryway of any home takes a lot of abuse. So using an attractive inexpensive rug is the perfect way to protect your floors from the heavy traffic.

I love shopping my own home when it comes to redecorating spaces. I found the perfect jute rug tucked away in storage while rummaging through the basement and thought I’d give it a try. Except, a last minute trip to Homegoods quickly replaced it with this bright cream and grey plush option right before I shared this post.

What can I say, I’m a bit indecisive with my own décor options, and somewhat of a rug hoarder.

Ingredient 5: Lighting

I can’t possibly makeover a space and not top it off with some gorgeous lighting, and this mudroom is no exception. If you couldn’t tell from the photos, our mudroom was a very dimly lit area, and I’m not sure the brown paint helped it feel any brighter.

The traditional boob light that practically every builder installs in their homes had to go. Aside from it being really unattractive, it did nothing to brighten up the space to be able to actually find what we’re looking for.

I scored a great deal on this semi-flush mount light from Home Depot, and its modern farmhouse feel complemented the matte black wall hooks and cabinet hardware perfectly. The open glass casing lets so much more light into the mudroom and helped brighten up the space. The perfect finishing touch in my opinion.

Put it into Practice for your small mudroom

So there you have it. 5 small mudroom ideas you can bring together to create a stylish and functional mudroom to better serve your family.

1. Seating
2. Coat Hooks
3. Storage
4. Rug
5. Lighting

You don’t need all the fancy decorations to make your mudroom come to life, and really, in a space that calls for organization, less is generally more here. So focus on function over form and make sure whatever area you designate as your mudroom is set up to meet your needs. This can be something as elaborate as a large walk-in laundry room, or as simple as a narrow wall along your entryway.

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