Our Mudroom Refresh: Clean, Organize and Simplify

A mudroom refresh is the best way to welcome Spring and everyone else into your home. 

Take a look at how we transformed our dreary mudroom into one that now sparks joy!

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As the season changes, I wanted to finish up several home projects I’ve been working on–especially our mudroom refresh.

This is what our mudroom looked like before:

And what our mudroom looks like now:

A big improvement, right?

Thank goodness, because the other set up was not working for us at all…

Case of the Mixed Up Mudroom

Our previous mudroom was essentially a mish mash of various different items we’d repurposed from around the house.

Like this shoe cabinet which was a Craigslist find for our last apartment which served as a catch-all for all our hats and gloves.

Notice how those two doors no longer closed up all the way?

And this shelf/bench that we’d repurposed from our upstairs master bedroom closet was in even worse shape.

Those individual cubbies made it impossible to fit a whole pair of shoes into one compartment…

Let alone my tall boots.

Those were always falling over because there was no space to tuck them in and out of sight not to mention we were constantly tripping over them.

And don’t get me started on those DIY hooks that were now literally falling out of the walls since our boys got bigger and everything was so much heavier (20 lb book bags anyone?)

Did you also notice that our dog’s leash was somehow slung onto our son’s hook?

These hooks were so tiny that whatever we couldn’t hang onto our designated spots, we had to “borrow” someone else’s…

Yes, this whole “look” was less than inspiring to say the least.

We were so desperate to get our mudroom cleaned, organized and functional again.

How to Create a Clean, Organized and Functional Mudroom

The first thing I always do before I start any home project is to create a vision board for what I have in mind.

Here’s what I envisioned for this mudroom refresh and what I thought was possible given our space and budget:

Even though I ended up not incorporating every element of this initial design (dark blue baseboards for instance) I combined various stylistic elements to address a specific need or want we had for our new mudroom.

Here’s what we wanted and what we needed in our updated mudroom:

Multiple Hang Outs:

We needed a place to hang up all our jackets and back packs, along with a few other areas where we could unload our things temporarily so that it wouldn’t interfere with the overall functionality of this mudroom.

For instance, we needed an area where we could hang up our jackets and backpacks as we walked in…

As well as some hooks above our bench area where we could hang up stuff we didn’t want to hold on to as we put on our shoes.

Streamlined Shelving system:

Our mudroom also needed ample shelving space for all our shoes and an area where we could stow away some of our taller boots and irregularly sized shoes.

The shelves also needed to be accessible enough so that we can pull our shoes in and out easily without fuss.

You can find a complete step-by-step tutorial on how we created this shoe bench/shelving here.

Drop Off:

We also wanted a bench area where we could sit down (yes,all the benefits of getting older) to pull our shoes on and off as well as a place to off load some of our stuff until we could put them away in their proper places.

Funny thing is, this bench area has now become our dog’s favorite area to snooze on while he waits for us to get back home.

Containment Area:

We also needed separate baskets or cubbies where we could house all our hats, gloves and other smaller items.

These baskets I found were the perfect size and shape for these stock shelving units my husband customized for this built-in.

Personalization:

We also wanted everyone to have a clear idea where their stuff should go to keep us accountable and responsible for managing our own stuff and for keeping this area clean and clutter free.

Getting labels for the baskets were a must, but finding hooks with labels made everything much more personalized (i.e. no more bait and switch).

Floor Protection:

We also switched out our sea grass rug for a more durable all purpose one at a fraction of the cost.

The weave on this rug is much tighter than the one we had earlier which our dog couldn’t resist unraveling.

So far, this rug traps dirt, dust, or whatever else that we trek in from the outside from getting inside the house. All the best features of a well made natural fiber rug all rolled into one!

Wall Protection:

Our bare walls were also crying out for something more stain and shock resistant than paint to protect it from the constant wear and tear of all our coming and going.

Lining all the exposed walls with ship lap style planks were the perfect solution to that problem!

My husband cut out each plank to size from a large ply board and my youngest son painted each one.

This turned out to be a much cheaper option than purchasing the pre-fabricated ones I had my eyes on and I think more endearing; My very active son will think twice before he does a Karate chop on these walls for sure. It’s hard to bang up something you helped to create after all.

Visually Pleasing:

Last but not least, we also wanted this room to “spark joy” or at the very least put a smile on our faces  every time we entered and exited.

I think that these silhouettes I refurbished for each family member makes this space all that much more personal, not to mention more aesthetically pleasing.

It’s a much brighter version of the ones I had here before and a bit more subtle so as not to overwhelm this narrow hallway.

A tutorial on how to create one of your own is in the works…

Does Your Mudroom Spark Joy?

As Marie Kondo, that maven of home organization, says, everything in our homes should “spark joy” when we see it. If it doesn’t, she argues, we should simply get rid of it.

So that’s what we did with our mudroom refresh:  We got rid of what we no longer wanted, and replaced it with what we did need, want and love~

Looking at this mudroom now, it’s hard to figure out why we lived with the dysfunction for so long.

Don’t Know or Don’t Want to Know?

I guess the main reason why we held off on updating our mudroom for so long was that we either didn’t know that it was no longer working for us, or we didn’t want to know because knowing means we had to do something about it.

Making changes is always hard.

Especially because change also means that there’s going to be some pain involved.

And boy did this project take a lot of work and cause some pain in the process… (You can read more about this whole process here)

But as with any successful home DIY project, the process is so worth it once you’re able to reap the benefits.

Who knew what a difference one little room can make in the way we feel throughout the day?

Renewed, refreshed, and restored are the feelings I get every time I walk by this mudroom.

That’s such an improvement over the feelings of dread, stress and anxiety every time I saw our previous one.

So what about you? What’s holding you back from swapping out the old with the new in your home?

Let me know in the comments below or share with me whatever you’re sprucing up this Spring in your own home!

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