Friday Favorites: Rainy Day-Ready Rooms
Be it ever so humble, there is no place like a good mudroom—especially on snowy or wet days or in a location that happens to be home to a lot of sand. Though primarily utilitarian, when well executed and finished off with the right touches, as the above space by Chicago-based Bardes Interiors shows, the small-but-mighty mudroom can be a calming and inviting place of order that happens to also help keep the rest of your home free of clutter and the dirtier aspects of everyday life.
Bright paint, clean lines, and a charming sconce keeps this mudroom by Charlottesville’s Sutphin Architecture feeling light, fresh, and simple, while plenty of drawer and cabinet space keeps items such as rain boots and grocery bags organized (and plenty of other items out of sight).
Thanks to elements like a comfortable painted bench, decorative plates and pillows, and a cheerful hooked rug, this mudroom by Cory Spencer Partners is warm and welcoming. It’s also the perfect place to store wet wellies, lacrosse sticks, and linens due to plenty of storage space. The Charlottesville-based firm has the mudroom mastered, so for additional inspiration and insights be sure to check out their piece on the subject on their blog.
“A good mudroom should work as a buffer for your kitchen, protecting a precious family gathering space from becoming a dumping ground for the flotsam and jetsam of family life.”
—Cory Spencer Partners
This space in a Wisconsin lake house by Bardes Interiors checks all of the mudroom must-have boxes—benches, plenty of hooks and shelf space to hang coats, bags, and hats, and a colorful (and durable) rug—before seamlessly flowing into the bright, inviting kitchen beyond.
Above, two more mudrooms by Cory Spencer Partners prove they have the perfect formula for this type of entryway. We appreciate how there’s a place for everything, but thoughtful details ensure that guests arriving through the secondary entrance will still have a good first impression. “Woodwork saturated in slate blue, dark pewter, or tawny taupe adds instant character and definition to simple carpentry in any small space,” the firm notes.
Of course, nothing says “welcome home” like a Golden Retriever, but having a clean, crisp space in which to kick off your shoes and quickly stow your belongings before settling in for the evening, like the above by Raleigh-based Design Lines, is pretty sweet, too. As a bonus, the area serves as the ideal place to wipe off wet or muddy paws.