Your stride into your home, quickly kicking off your shoes and landing on the couch on one motion. You’re tired from work and ready to relax. The next morning, you’re ready to head out the door for work, but…you can’t find your shoes. Create a cheerful and organized space to decrease morning stress using these Mudroom Ideas with tips and advice from interior designers.
1) Joke Sign
As your entrance, a mudroom sets the tone for the entire home; as Deborah from DiMare Design puts it, “I like to think a mudroom can also give a peek into the soul of a space.” If the soul of your home is lighthearted, consider getting a joke sign like this one from Amazon that says, “Please Remove Your Shoes and don’t take a better pair when you leave,” or even making one yourself.
2) DIY Layers of Texture
When you design your mudroom, you want it to be rich and inviting. It’s already called a mudroom; it won’t be flat and sterile, and shouldn’t be. Benjamin from Benjamin Dhong Interiors advises that “Great Mud rooms have wonderful layers of textures!…old wood paneling, vintage furniture, straw hats, wellingtons, woven baskets, zinc pots, etc …all the signs of LIFE.” Bring your mudroom to life by adding many textures, like Erica Van Slyke with Designing Vibes did by adding baskets, beadboard, a unique rug, a plant, and more to this mudroom.
3) IKEA Hacks
If you’re on a budget but want an organized mudroom, you’ll love this IKEA hack. With IKEA furniture, you can buy something relatively inexpensive and put it together in a new way to get a fancier-looking piece. Watch this video to see how this couple from The Rehab Life turned an IKEA KALLAX shelf into a storage bench for their mudroom. You can do something similar with any IKEA furniture or furniture that needs assembly.
4) Fun and Unique
Your mudroom is the first thing people see when you enter a house, whether those people are guests, family, or yourself! You want people to feel happy and energetic when they enter your home, so create a space with a lot of variety and cheer. Deborah from DiMare Design suggests, “Have various hooks of all colors, styles and materials to hang dog leashes, hats, backpacks and coats.” Use different shapes like the one in this picture, and add variety and cheerful color to make a pleasant and personal space.
5) Boot Scraper
Some mudroom ideas should be simple. You want a beautiful design, but you also need to think about the practical things you’ll need. If you live somewhere with mud, dust, or any or the clingy debris that’s common in the country, you’ll want a boot scraper like this. This particular boot scraper from Amazon is exceptional because it scrapes the sides and bottom of both boots, and it’s durable and tough enough to get sticky mud and snow off. Make sure to use it over tile, or move it to the front porch during wetter seasons.
6) DIY Corner Bench
If your mudroom is small or has too many doorways that take up room, try making use of corners. In this tutorial, Kara Cook from Creations by Kara described how she made a cozy bench with lots of storage space in a fairly small area by building a corner bench. You can copy her design, but she also gives advice for planning your bench based on your space and needs. The corner bench saves space and gives a cozy feeling, which can be nice when you first walk in the door.
7) Natural Wood Coat Hooks
“The key to a beautiful mudroom is all in the details!” At least, that’s Summer from Summer Thornton Design, Inc.‘s take on mudroom design. Focus on little details, like your choice of coat hooks, wallpapers, and small storage boxes. Summer recommends antique hooks, but you can also get natural wood hooks like these and arrange them carefully, either in a diagonal line, a straight line across, or another unique pattern of your choice. As Summer told us, “decluttered organization + fun style = beauty!”
8) DIY Built-Ins
Your ultimate goal when redesigning a mudroom is that you won’t have to do it again. Unless you’re the sort of person that rearranges the furniture every six months, built-in furniture is a great way to take up less room and create a smooth appearance. Lead Designer Erica Lugbill from Lugbill Designs talks about how you can create an appealing look: “We love combining natural wood tones with a painted finish to create contrast.” He also suggests using a variety of paneling. To make an attractive built-in with these design suggestions, try following the instructions in this post by Woodshop Diaries.
9) Window Seat
When you first come in from outside, the room can seem dim after the bright sunlight. This makes mudroom windows a wonderful idea, as they brighten the space with sunlight, but sometimes they get in the way of designing your storage spaces. Try putting seats for taking off shoes underneath the window, as the owner of the home in this photo did; this way, you’re not wasting space that you could use for storage and organization.
10) DIY Hidden Bench Storage
Most mudrooms will have a few basic things. They’ll have benches or chairs to sit on while taking off shoes and wet snow pants, organizers for clothing, and organizers for keys and other items. One issue that comes up when designing a bench is that items you’ll store under the seat will probably take up only the front part of the space, wasting the space further underneath the bench. In this video, Ana White describes a solution to this problem; you can follow her instructions to add hidden storage in the back.
11) Entry Organizer
Your mudroom is for getting muddy clothes off when you come in from the outside, of course, but it’s also for anything you do when you first come inside. This includes hanging keys so you can grab them on the way out, sticking mail in a container to sort later, and anything else you might be using a catch-all for now. Instead of relying on a jumbled catch-all container that gets cluttered as you fail to sort items, get an entry organizer like this one from Amazon to keep things neat.
12) DIY Lockers
Part of the point of a mudroom is to keep the entrance to your home clean and organized. When you have a large family, or even just a couple of people, your gloves, jackets, hats, and other things get mixed together. You find gloves that everybody swears don’t belong to them, and ultimately the area ends up messy because nobody knows what to do with everybody else’s things. Create lockers using this article by the Rogue Engineer to keep everybody’s stuff separate.
13) Easy DIY Organizer
When you enter your house, you probably have somewhere you like to toss your keys, mail, and maybe what you have in your pockets at the time. It might be in the living room, or maybe you have a catch-all bowl in the entryway. Instead of piling stuff up haphazardly, build an entry organizer using the instructions in this video by EvanAndKatelyn. Since you’re making it yourself, you can modify it for the small items you tend to store. You can even build in a catch-all bowl for things that don’t belong anywhere specific.
14) Mirror
Is a mirror really important? You look at yourself in the bathroom mirror every morning, so do you need to take up space in the mudroom with another one? According to Marie from Marie Burgos Design, you definitely do! The mirror gives you one last chance to check your makeup and appearance, but she mentions other benefits; according to Marie, “A mirror in the entrance visually widen the space, bounces light and build your confidence too.” The mirror reflects light and makes the room seem larger and brighter, and this one from Amazon comes with coat hooks.
15) DIY Small Table
Jay and David from Britto Charette had great advice for us, and while we’d love to include it all, we picked a simple but effective DIY project. Jay and David suggest, “Place a countertop-height table or console within the space so that you have a place to set groceries and keys and other items as you’re bringing them in from the car.” While you don’t want to get stuck with a cluttered catch-all, you can make a table like the one Jen Woodhouse writes about in this article, and use it to rest groceries for a minute.
16) DIY Closet Bench
If your main obstacle to creating a mudroom is space, consider opening up the entry closet to make it part of the mudroom, or even hiring somebody to open an interior wall and create a little extra space. Follow the directions in Katie Lamb’s article here, and learn how you can remove your closet doors and turn the closet space into a mudroom bench. Since a bench or seating is often the largest furniture in a mudroom, you’ll eliminate a lot of wasted space this way.
17) Rubber Boot Tray
A rubber boot tray is a simple, cheap, and vital part of your mudroom. If you have the money, you can tile the floor, or even have a stone floor. While those durable and waterproof floors are ideal, you might have budget constraints that force you to look for cheaper options. Even with those floors, a tray like this one from Amazon holds in any dirt, water, and debris on your shoes, so they don’t get tracked onto floor space you use, or stuck in nicer drawers that you use for gloves and other outerwear.
18) DIY Cubbies
Cubbies are a convenient way to store items of any type, but they’re particularly useful for an entryway. Use these instructions from Family Handyman to build a set of cubbies with a built-in bench and hooks. This self-contained set of cubbies can fit in most mudrooms, and you’ll have everything you need in the one piece of furniture. You can also make your own plans based on these by rearranging cubbies to suit your needs and fit your space.
19) Cabinets
According to Shelley from Shelley Starr Interior Design, “The most important factor when it comes to a mudroom is thoughtful cabinetry. It’s key that this space be functional and well organized.” She also adds the insight that “The more organized our personal lives are the calmer and more peaceful our homes can be for us…especially for those of us with kids.” Use items like these cabinets from The Home Depot to keep your space organized and peaceful.
20) DIY Dollar Tree Coat Rack
Dollar Tree DIYs are one of the most popular ways to design home interiors for little money, and your mudroom will be no exception. Watch this video by Amanda Kuhlman to learn how you can take a few cheap items from Dollar Tree and turn them into practical and attractive hooks for your mudroom. You can also watch for crates at your local Dollar Tree, stack them sideways, and glue them together to turn them into shelves.
21) Bold Wall Coverings
Joe, from designs by human, describes mudrooms as “small spaces that need to be functional but a space that you have an opportunity for a bold design.” According to him, the design can “speak to” the rest of the home, but doesn’t need to match it. He suggests wall coverings for this bold idea since wallpapers often have an added benefit of being durable and easy-to-clean. Look for bold designs like this wallpaper from Amazon. You can bring in nature, like this design does, or use other bolds designs you like.
22) Vintage
Let’s face it; there are many mudroom ideas out there, and most people will give you the same three ideas: storage, benches, and….okay, there are two ideas. There’s a reason you want storage in your mudroom, and a reason you want benches, so instead of reinventing the wheel, make yours unique. Jennifer from JMorris Design suggests that you change up your mudroom furniture with repurposed furniture, saying, “I think a vintage chest or cabinet can be a really fun departure for typical storage pieces.” Use this tutorial by Robi to learn about restoring old pieces.
23) Shoes
While there are a lot of things that need to be kept organized in a mudroom, shoes are possibly the most important. Why? Because coats and hats can be placed on counters, in bins, and in many other places, but shoes should only go on the floor or in a dedicated space. After all, you don’t want muddy shoes sitting in a catch-all drawer on your counter. Since shoes should only go in dedicated bins or on the floor, consider an organizer like this one from Walmart that has many spaces for shoes.
24) Freestanding Coat and Hat Rack
Most coat racks are designed for coats and maybe baseball caps, but for folks with fishing hats and Stetsons, you probably need a little more space. A freestanding coat and hat rack like this one from Amazon is a great way to keep any hat in shape, and you can hang any size coats off it. That makes it great for bulky winter coats, and you can always have a coat hanger on the wall, as well.
25) Decorate Ceilings
Furniture and wall hangings are a typical thing to look at when designing a space, but Jannicke from Tiny Little Pads reminds us, “don’t forget to decorate the fifth wall in a mudroom, the ceiling!” That’s right, the ceiling is a big part of your decoration, even if you don’t think you spend a lot of time looking at it. Jannicke suggests opening the drywall so you can see beams, but if you have a newer home with less attractive joists, consider exposing a small part of it as liz west did in this picture.
What have you done with your mudroom in the past? Did any of these ideas speak to you? Let us know in the comments below!
