Now that winter has set in with all its wind and rain, keeping your home clean from the mud and pine needles galore can be a challenge! While having a separate room to serve this purpose might not be a feasible reality for everyone, Vicki recently did a segment on More Good Day Oregon about how you can create a mudroom that fits your home and family. In it, she shared three easy tips on how to reclaim space in your home make this important area a reality.
Step One: Make An Inventory
A tendency we all share is to progressively drop our gear throughout the house when we get home. Our keys and purse might end up on the kitchen counter, coats might get strewn across a chair, and shoes might be kicked off in the bedroom until they are stowed in a closet.
Before you get started on making your mudroom, you first have to understand what all needs to go in that space. This includes coats, shoes, vests, gloves, hats, scarves, purses, backpacks – any gear you need when you head out the door. Go to those closets and outer regions of your house where those items land and gather them together in one place so you can see how much you actually have.
Group like things together so that your organizational system fits your needs (p.s., this is a great opportunity to weed out a few things you don’t need anymore!) Ultimately, storing all this outerwear in your mudroom gives it a permanent place to live that will keep the rest of your house cleaner and more clutter-free.
Step Two: Make It Grab-And-Go Friendly
The next priority in creating a mudroom is making it grab-and-go friendly. In addition to shoes, bags, and outerwear layers, think about other things you need in a hurry: umbrellas, hand warmers, windshield scrapers, or even cameras you might want at the last second.
Vicki also suggests having a place where dirty laundry can land. A separate place for dry clean-only items can make it much simpler to grab and drop off. Especially during the holiday season, this can be a smart area to keep store items that need to be returned. Essentially, the goal in this important room in your house is to keep anything and everything you need handy so it’s easy to take with you.
Step Three: Assess Available Real Estate
Your home might already have a built-in room perfect to turn into a mudroom. You might also have an area big enough to build a mudroom into. But for most people, having an entire room dedicated as a mudroom just won’t work. In this case, Vicki suggests finding a wall that can become the “mudroom.”
At Dream Acres, Vicki’s mudroom features rows of hooks on the wall for hanging purses, handbags, hats, and coats. There are racks for shoes, and a tall bank of drawers for corralling smaller items. Each person in their family has a drawer for hats and a drawer for gloves. Vicki puts an emphasis on the fact that creating a mudroom doesn’t have to be a huge investment. Look in your garage and see what you have out there and repurpose as much as you can.
Building a mudroom in your home really can be as simple as putting up a few boards, installing some hooks, and adding some organizing drawers in your entryway to catch your winter wear as you come in the door. For more visual inspiration and to hear Vicki’s strategy, you can watch the whole segment from More Good Day Oregon here!
Related:
- For information about organizing services sign-up to receive our free monthly inspirational e-newsletter!
- Learn more about our Professional Organizing Services
- Read Vicki’s book “Restoring Order to Your Home” to learn about making your space work for you!
