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5 ways mudrooms can shineThese utilitarian rooms can be more than a spot to shed gear and gunk.
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13 big threats to your home's valueThese factors can cause your house to depreciate by as much as 50%.
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Magnificent mudrooms
By Alyssa Ford of SwitchYard Media
High-gloss durability
This new 6,400-square-foot home in Darien, Conn., by custom builder Brindisi & Yaroscak includes sophisticated gloss-white cabinetry in the great room, kitchen and many other spaces.
Architect Roger Bartels, principal at Bartels-Pagliaro Architects in South Norwalk, Conn., designed the mudroom with similar, half-round battens on both sides of the walls and painted the room with automotive-quality high-gloss paint. Master cabinetmaker John Lomas of Cotswold Furniture Makers in Stowe, Vt., constructed two built-in cabinets with cubbies and generous pullout drawers on either side of the door.
Magnificent mudrooms
The combo room
When the Fellers family of Edina, Minn., wanted to reconfigure their rambler, one of the first things they asked for was a defined transition space where their three kids could drop their school and sports stuff and where mom and dad could keep things organized.
Gary Knight, owner of Knight Construction Design Inc., designed a combination mudroom-laundry room with tough, mottled porcelain floor tiles. The laundry has a front-loading, under-counter washer and dryer and apple-green cabinetry, and it smoothly transitions to glazed-alder lockers with three sets of hooks.
"I've found that if you ask kids to open a closet and hang up a coat, they won't do it," Knight says. "But for whatever reason, hooks they will use."
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Magnificent mudrooms
A New England touch
Designed for a Vermont family, this Cape Cod-style home by Connor Homes includes a painted poplar mudroom bench with 10 hanging pegs. The builder now sells the bench as a kit on its website.
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Magnificent mudrooms
Mudroom meets wet bar
"The need for a mudroom came out of not having any covered space once you stepped out of our 3-foot-by-3-foot stair landing inside our 1909 Foursquare Craftsman home," says Garrison Hullinger, a residential interior designer in Portland, Ore. "We have rescued greyhounds, and getting them in (and) out of the house and wiping their feet proved to be cramped and inconvenient."
Adding a 9-foot-by-9-foot mudroom was the solution. Its floor is sloped so it can be washed down with a hose. The drain goes into a cistern that's buried in the backyard, Hullinger says.
But the biggest advantage of the mudroom is that it converts quickly into a bar-service area for backyard parties. Using two salvaged, double-hung windows that swing open, "I put a counter at 42 inches high so we could serve food (and) drinks from the mudroom out to the garden," Hullinger says.
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Magnificent mudrooms
Roomy for multiple uses
This Bethesda, Md., family has three daughters in middle school and high school but no garage. A mudroom seemed to be a necessity.
The new light-infused space combines a drop zone and a "mom office" with a computer, a printer and a built-in paper recycler for sorting junk mail. The cherry bench includes pullout drawers big enough to store multiple pairs of shoes.
Magnificent mudrooms
A perfect match
This Minneapolis family has a lovely 1920s house with built-ins but no mudroom to speak of. With two young children who required coats and mittens multiple times a day in the winter, the homeowners sought interior designers Emily Anderson and Lisa Peck of LiLu Interiors in Minneapolis to rethink their entryway.
The designers added a built-in, cushioned bench, the perfect height for assisting kids, with two pullout drawers for storing shoes. Keeping with the home's period feel, the designers also added a bracket shelf and mirror, good for last-minute makeup and hair checks.
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Magnificent mudrooms
A refined mudroom
At her former home in Connecticut, interior designer Linda Banks, principal at Banks Design Associates in Falmouth, Maine, designed a simple yet romantic mudroom.
The family entrance, lined with thin bead board, has a long row of mismatched hooks, as well baskets and a weathered bench for removing shoes. A console with drawers helps store keys and cell phones.
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Magnificent mudrooms
Cubbies for the kiddies
Architect Ann Robinson, principal of Renovation Design Group in Salt Lake City, designed this stunning home for a family in Bountiful, Utah.
With four young children, the owners wanted a convenient place for the mudroom. Robinson found the solution: just above the garage and just off the front entry, so no matter how family members enter the home, they must pass through this large hallway to get to the rest of the house. Equipped with a message center and an ottoman, the mudroom includes lockers with pullout drawers and multiple cubbies.
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Magnificent mudrooms
Built for skiers
Designed for a family of avid skiers in Williston, Vt., this mudroom includes a cabinet with angled pegs for skis and extra-high shoe cabinets for ski boots.
The slate-floored room, designed by Peregrine Design/Build in Burlington, Vt., also includes open coat lockers divided with cubbies for storing keys and other easy-to-miss essentials. A tucked-away mail slot and a station for charging mobile devices round out the amenities.
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Magnificent mudrooms
Assigned lockers
Matching the existing lines of the house but updating it with modern, utilitarian features, this mudroom has an assigned locker for every household member.
The open cubbies provide a place to toss hats and gloves, while the pullouts below have additional storage room to hide boots and shoes.
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