wishful wednesdays {mud rooms}

Odds are that a few/manymanymany years from now, when I do own a house, there probably won't be so much space that I could dedicate a whole room to mud, but a girl can dream, can't she?  A place where the dirty shoes stay put and a there's little bench to sit and take them off.  A place where jackets and bags and soggy things can hang out.  Maybe even a place to store winter things when it's hot and summer things when it's cold.  Mud Rooms can be so cute, and useful. 

I used to be a very messy kid.  Before college, when I lived with my parents, I would come home from school and explode.  My mom would come home from work and complain that a tornado had come through the house again.  Then I went to school (here in Chicago), and each day when I came back to my room from class everything would just stay where I dropped it.  There was no magic elf that tidied everything up for me while I was away, and I realized I hate messes.  My mom (aka that magic elf) was always following my dad and I around with a vacuum and laundry basket, but there is no one willing to do that for you once you move out on your own (..duh).  Seriously, I've tried, but roommates tend to get angry when you leave your messes for them to clean.  So I became much tidier.

I do have my off days weeks when the house gets unbearable, and that is when I day dream about cabinets and shelves and cubbies and magnet strips and secret storage in benches.  Everything having it's own place to be.  Like In A Mud Room!!

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I think it's a bit unlikely for people to have a separate room for their mud these days, but if you did, this would be quite lovely.  I love that they created storage all the way up to the ceiling and put in a ladder so that the high up cabinets are actually useful.

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This is a cute taking-off-your-shoes nook.  I like the wood paneling (not such much with the floors, but hey that's just me)

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I love, love, love the idea of a chalk board wall in a mud room. So you can remember your "To-Do's" right before you walk out the door (or remember what you forgot the second you walk back in). 

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Every mud room needs a space for the pups of the house!! Mud rooms are the perfect place to clean up the dogs before letting them run wild through the rest of your home.  It would be great to have a place for their leash and toys and little puppy sweaters, if you're the type to put your dog in funny outfits.  

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Now this is more realistic, and a great use of space.  You've got plenty of storage for a few people and a cozy nook for taking galoshes on and off.

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This picture I just found browsing through a "mud room" google image search.  If you have a little extra space off to the side in your entry way, then this is the way to go.  I love how the wall color continues inside the built-in, both in the larger space and in the long nook above with all the hats.

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One of my favorite mud rooms, is the one in Dana's house from House*Tweaking.  She turned a hall closet into an adorable space.  This is what she said about it on her blog:

 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!!

I think it's such a wonderful idea to take a small area that's already in your house but isn't serving it's purpose, and turn it into it's own, incredibly useful, room.  Out of all the mud rooms I've looked at over the past year, from full blown rooms to hooks on the wall next to the back door, this little space is one of the all time best.  When the day comes that I do have my own place, my first line of duty will be to create a space like this (unless I get stinkin' rich and have one of those full-blown rooms of mud and dirt and cubbies).

Andrew called me while I was writing part of this post and I told him it was about mud rooms.  He laughed and gave me his two cents about them.  His definition:

"Mud rooms are where people do all the stuff they don't want to do in the rest of their house . . . Get Dirty!!!  Can't you just wipe your shoes off before you come in?"

How about you? Completely unnecessary?  Totally useful? Wish you had one? Have a great one?  Is a few hooks by the door just fine, or are you like me and want a bench and maybe a few cubbies?

Tell me, I wanna know!