The last part of this week our boys have been at grandpa and grandma’s house.  It has been a yearly pilgrimage and something the boys really look forward to.  I also anticipate the stay, and use it as the prime opportunity to go through clutter, toss out/donate unnecessary items and just get more organized all around.  I tackled many spots around the house over the last few days, and will share some of the big transformations in future posts.

Today though, I wanted to give a little glimpse into our farmhouse mudroom.  It is quite literally just that – a room of mud.  There were mud hand prints on the walls, I kid you not! I have put off doing any sort of organizing in this space for a long time with the excuse ‘It’s just going to get messed up right away – what’s the point?’  But alas, it had to be dealt with.  It’s not perfect, it’s not pretty, but it is about 85% more functional than it was before – a place for everything.  I tidied up, stood back and admired my work, then promptly took this photo as proof that for one moment of time it was, in fact, clean.

For the cottage I envision a super functional mud room where everything has it’s place.  It will be the first time in our adult lives that we have EVER had an attached garage, which will be monumental.  I fought that decision (more on that later), but now realize that an attached garage is for the greater good.  A hallmark of a well organized mudroom is it’s connection to other spaces.  Ours will have connection directly to the garage, of course, plus direct access to the kitchen and the main level bath – both rooms that are most likely to be needed when coming in from the great outdoors.

Other key features of the mudroom include a command center – complete with charging station, a bench for removing shoes, a broom closet, a small seasonal closet, and my all time favorite – a series of five cubbies/ lockers – one for each child.  I daydreamed about them in more detail today as part of the Saturday Sketchbook installation.  Hope you enjoy the doodles!