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A Mudroom Makeover

by | Jan 29, 2016 | Cassie, Decorating Inspiration, Entries/Mudrooms

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A Mudroom Makeover

A Mudroom Makeover

Hello Inspired Room Readers! It’s Cassie here for my first post of the new year. January is an interesting month around our home. On one hand, it’s sort of a dreary, post-holiday month. On the other, it’s a month of beginnings, new projects, and the desire to organize our home. Almost every year we start off making a list of things we want to accomplish in our home, try to budget accordingly, and get things cleaned up after the holidays.

A Mudroom MakeoverOur mudroom after making a bench, adding board and batten, using new hooks, and doing a fresh coat of white paint.

We were in full clean-up mode the first weekend of the month, when we decided we had to deal with the disaster that was our mudroom. Even to call it a mudroom was sort of a stretch. It didn’t really function for our family, and in order to get things started off on the right foot, we just jumped on in and decided to change it.

A Mudroom MakeoverMudroom before-it’s bad. really bad.

I warned you all it was a disaster. We sorted and cleaned out all the coats, shoes, baby things, and junk that was apart of the mess. Then we drew up an idea of what we wanted and made a list of what we needed.

A Mudroom Makeover After all the junk was gone.

The first step was to make a bench with storage cubbies. We wanted to have a place to store shoes, but where they wouldn’t be able to create a huge mess and could be contained to keep things nice and tidy.

A Mudroom MakeoverLeft:Wooden bench in place, Right: Bench with molding and caulking.

Once the bench was in, we installed some trim and a shelf above the bench to sort of frame it all in and provide a place to install the coat hooks. Before we painted, we also caulked all the edges and smoothed over any nail holes.

A Mudroom Makeover
Shelf with molding and caulking.

You might notice we didn’t do any wood behind the trim, as is typical of real board and batten wainscoting. We wanted that look, but realized that this wasn’t a super visible location. If this area was in more of a common area of our home, we probably would have included the wood on the back.

A Mudroom MakeoverAfter the first coat of paint.

We painted the entire bench, walls, and woodwork the same shade of white, Dover White by Sherwin Williams. We decided to use the same color as the trim of our house to make it look more built-in.

A Mudroom MakeoverMudroom entrance-after.

The whole project was completed in less than a week, with most of the work being done after our kiddos went to bed. I am so happy with how it turned out! It looks so much brighter and it’s already functioning much better for our family.

A Mudroom Makeover

A Mudroom Makeover

I am loving having the shoes contained to the baskets. They also help us limit how many shoes we keep downstairs, and when they get full, we go and put all of them away upstairs. We have a coat closet as well, so we are trying to just keep our favorite and most used coats and bags out on the hooks.  The bench works great as a place to help my toddler put on shoes and set the baby carseat on while I load the car.

A Mudroom Makeover

This space gives joy to me every time I come and go. It functions better, and it definitely looks better. I hope it inspired you as you tackle those untidy corners of your own home!

Sources: basketspaint color, rug, brass geometric orbs

Until next time!

A Mudroom Makeover

More posts by Cassie:

Ikea Play Kitchen “Renovation”

Toddler Girl’s Room Tour

“Outer Space Meets Robots” Nursery Tour

Small Backyard Renovation

34 Comments

  1. Jo Jo

    Wonderful, stylish solution! Looks great! I’m inspired! ?

    • Cassie Kulp

      Thank you!

  2. Kara Andrews

    Looks wonderful! It is so nice to come into an organized area when you first walk in the house.

    • Cassie Kulp

      Thanks Kara!

  3. Lynn Marie

    I LOVE it. It looks like a built in–good job!

    • Cassie Kulp

      Thank you so much Lynn!

  4. Mary Ellen Eckels

    This is awesome – totally doable. I know what we’ll be making this February :-) Thanks.

    • Cassie Kulp

      You are welcome! Good luck on your project!

  5. Carmen Gomez (Lilly)

    Beautifully executed! Looks 100% better, brighter and most importantly added so much functionality!

    • Cassie Kulp

      Thank you Carmen! That was exactly what we were going for.

  6. Michelle

    Love it! Can you please provide a picture that shows the completed project in one view. Thanks for your consideration.

    • Cassie Kulp

      I so wish I could provide a complete view photo for you Michelle. Unfortunately, this is a pretty skinny hallway entrance, so there is not enough room to get far enough back to take a full length photo. Hopefully the photos I provided can get you sort of an idea about how it all fits together!

  7. Vicki @ EntriWays

    Very nice work! I’ve been wanting to do the same in my entry hall so the kids stop dropping their backpacks on the kitchen island. It’s on the list for 2016!

    • Cassie Kulp

      Thank you Vicki!

  8. Jean | DelightfulRepast.com

    Cassie, great job! Wish my house had a spot for a mudroom! I like the way you did your “board”-and-batten; it was a sensible choice and very attractive.

    • Cassie Kulp

      Thank you so much Jean!

  9. Joe

    Nicely done. How did you decide on the height of the board batten wainscoting?

    • Cassie Kulp

      There were hooks in the wall prior to us redoing this area, so we knew we wanted to place the new hooks at a similar height. We just ended up sort of eyeing everything from there. I don’t think it would need to exact, so long as it looked somewhat balanced and there was room between the coats and the bench.

  10. Debbie from MountainMamaOnline

    Fantastic job!! I’m jealous – that’s way more of a mudroom than I have!! I have a coat hook and a boot tray and that’s it! Looks great, what a wonderful transformation!

    • Cassie Kulp

      Thank you Debbie!

  11. Shea @ The Fogue Abode

    Looks awesome! We created a mudroom last year and it was by far one of my favorite additions. I hope you enjoy yours and get some much needed use and organization out of it.

    • Cassie Kulp

      Thank you Shea! So far we are very much enjoying it!

  12. Diane Kulp

    You guys did such an amazing job transforming that space. It turned out just beautiful and even looks better in person! So proud of your creativity and workmanship!

    • Cassie Kulp

      Thanks Di!

  13. Vikki Ryan

    I love this Cassie. Thanks for sharing this makeover. I have a combined laundry/mudroom which looks very similar to your before photos ….and I don’t even have small children..lol! I will be sure to show this post to my hubby.

    • Cassie Kulp

      Thank you Vikki!

  14. Leah

    Oh wow, this looks great! Now I’m inspired to tackle my hallway linen closet makeover – haha!

    • Cassie Kulp

      Thank you!

  15. Christine

    Love it, what a great way to add a ton of storage in a cozy space. Great job!

    • Cassie Kulp

      Thanks Christine!

  16. Carmen

    Cassie!! You are a famous blogger! I am happy to say I knew you when… Great job and you have a wonderful eye for style! And those babies! Hope to meet them someday! Love, “Mrs. Mayo”

    • Cassie Kulp

      Thank you Carmen (or Mrs. Mayo-haha)! Hope you are doing well!

  17. Ellie

    Love your creativity! What source did you find that had the black hooks? Also, what width board did you use for the board the hooks are mounted to? Thanks!

  18. Mary Garcia

    Hi Cassie! I love the mudroom makeover!!! I’m the girl who’s renting your parent’s family farmhouse ☺️ I just wanted to pop in and tell you how much I admire your style!!! When your mom told me you were on the inspired room I knew exactly who you were because I have followed the blog for a while now. So exciting ? I’d love your opinion on how to revive this old farm house. What is one thing you would do if you got the chance? Also thanks for liking the color scheme upstairs…it made my heart so giddy when your mom said they were Cassie approved lol! I can’t wait to get the rest of the house painted!!!

    Blessings! ?

 

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