It’s Feature Friday!  On Fridays, I’ll be featuring one room in my house in its current condition even if there are some things I’d like to change about it.  If I do happen to improve something later, I can always revisit it when the time comes.  Plus, I’d kinda feel dishonest if I only focused on “finished” rooms in my house.  And if what they (the professionals) say is true, a room is never really finished anyways…you’re always tweaking it.  Concentrating on just one room weekly should give me some time to tidy it up a bit, too.  At least, I can throw all the toys into another room!

If you were ever-so-observant last week, you may have caught a sneak peek at my mini mudroom reflected in the mirror of the powder room.  The catchall mudroom use to be a poor attempt at a hall closet.  Its door was 1 of 3 that opened into a short hallway leading from the garage to the kitchen.  It was a pain to open the closet door because usually the garage door was still open letting others in, so the 2 doors would just bang each other, back-to-back.  One night I had an epiphany to remove the closet door, widen the doorway, install recessed lighting and add a bench to act as a mudroom of sorts.  Handy Hubby did the dirty work (he’s awesome) and I organized the space with baskets, hooks and hangers.  And we did it all for less than $160!!

Here’s our hardworking mudroom…

I painted and recovered a bench we already had then added baskets to dump shoes into.  This makes a great spot for putting on and removing shoes…which keeps my house a little cleaner.

Hooks provide quick hang-ups for purses, hats, backpacks, lunch boxes and hats.

The wooden hangers get utilized during cooler months for jackets, scarves and heavy coats.  Another basket holds gloves and ear warmers.

The ‘MILLER’ black-and-white photography art was a gift from Handy Hubby’s sister.  She took the pictures in Cincinnati and matted them herself.

More than anything, I love the function of this space.  As the homeowners, we nearly always enter our house through the garage, so it made sense to have our dropzone in proximity to the garage versus the front door.  We use this space daily and it helps keep clutter (shoes, bags, coats, etc.) in check.  It’s amazing how much a small room can do if you utilize it to the best of its abilities!

A few people have wondered (out loud) about the day-to-day usefulness of our mini-mudroom.  (Our DIY closet-turned-mudroom was featured on Young House Love last year here.)  Here’s the staged “after” as a reminder…

I take it as a compliment that some would question the practicality of a lovely little room…meaning they think it’s too pretty to actually use.  Well, I’m here to tell you that after nearly a year of living with this mini-mudroom, it’s a workhorse – albeit, a pretty one.  We use it (and I mean really use it) on a daily basis.  I thought it’d be fun to snap a few “as is” shots of our mudroom in full force.  These were taken just yesterday and they were NOT staged.  I pinky swear.  As you can see, I’ve tweaked the space a bit after discovering what was (and wasn’t) working for us.

In the upper corner, a basket holds winter gloves and hats.  I added wooden hangers for coats.  It’s almost June but we’ve had some chilly mornings here in the Midwest still.  Can’t wait to put the coats away for the summer.

Just below the coats, I added a double hook for our boys’ backpacks.  It’s easier for little arms to reach than the ones above the shoe bench.

This small corner of floor space was originally used to hide our youngest’s mongo diaper bag.  He’s graduated to carrying his own diaper and wipes in his Elmo backpack (because he has to do everything like his big brother who uses a backpack for preschool), so the diaper bag isn’t a daily carry-all anymore.  Instead, I usually stash extra wipes and Wet Ones here…a lone sock is hangin’ out too.

Some more stranded socks…but for the most part the shoes make it into the baskets.  I also switched out the original rug (see the staged picture again) to a sisal one for the winter and spring months.  It’s durable and has held up well against wet and snowy shoes.  The summer rug will make an appearance soon, I hope!

As you can see, our lil’ mudroom lives up to its name – especially lately.  It’s rained nearly every day for the past week.  Hence, the rain boots.  This space works so well for us; definitely much better than when it was simply a coat closet.  Having a place for everything (purse, coats, backpacks, shoes, etc) out in the open (we removed the closet door and widened the doorway) makes it very easy to keep tidy.  I always try to only buy/do things for/to our home that won’t stress me out if it actually gets touched, nicked or even (gasp!) broken.  After all, a house is for living in.  And we’re livin’, baby.