The Mudroom: Unglamorous Name, Spectacular Function
By Bill Primavera
Now that I live in a maintenance-free condo, I am sometimes asked if I miss anything about living in a single-family house, with those many chores involved.
The one thing I miss most is that funny little room that transitioned my guests and I from the outside to our country kitchen – the mudroom. It measured only 8 feet by 9 feet, but inch for inch, that space was the most practical and most used location in my house.
It’s that in-between area that allows one to move with impunity from one environment that may be dusty, dirty, muddy or wet into a cleaner space.
At least that is the purpose it served when we were an agrarian society and kicked off boots muddied from a day in the fields before entering the main house.
Mudrooms were popular from the 18th century to the 1920s. But as our society shifted from farming to less physical endeavors, mudrooms were banished in back to give way to the foyer in front.
But in the 1950s, perhaps because Americans started to collect more “stuff” in a prosperous time following World War II, the mudroom regained popularity, adding storage space to the function of housing coats and shoes. And in the 1970s, it morphed into a combo storage/laundry room when homeowners demanded that washers and dryers make their way up from the basement.
Eventually designers questioned the wisdom of combining a place for shedding dirt with laundering, and washers and dryers made their way to the more convenient second-story bedroom level.
Today the mudroom serves many individualized needs of the homeowner and most times is now incorporated into the footprint of the house, taking space from the kitchen and most often situated as an entry from an attached garage. I’ve listed homes where the mudroom has featured a pantry as an extension to the kitchen, an office, a hobby center, a sports equipment storage facility, a potting room for the garden and a changing room for the pool, the latter of which is the case with my mudroom.
When I found my home, it featured a motley mudroom that had been tacked on to the back of the house sometime after 1860. All but abandoned in terms of maintenance, it was a loosely framed lean-to with a cracked cement floor, and the ceiling was just the raw rafters of the roof, overlaid with wood shingles. There was no insulation and only wood shelves on one wall suggesting that the structure may have doubled as a potting shed.
Because it was the direct access from our driveway to the kitchen, it was hardly an attractive entrance to the house.
In my boldest construction project before or since, I chipped away the broken cement and hand-poured a new concrete foundation from a number of mixings in my wheelbarrow. I insulated the walls and created a nice closet and space for a half-bath. Other than the installation of the bathroom fixtures and a new windowed door that replaced one with decaying solid wood, I did all the work myself. And, now, as a semi-retired fixer-upper, I recall that work from long ago with great satisfaction.
When designing a mudroom and selecting its finishes, it’s well to remember that there’s a reason that the word “mud” lingers in its name. Materials for flooring should, therefore, be durable, easy to clean and water resistant. This is not the space for wall-to-wall carpeting, but tile, vinyl, natural slate or porcelain tile are excellent flooring choices.
Wall treatments also should not be delicate, but might be a solid vinyl which can be scrubbed without damage, or paneling that will be more forgiving when visitors lean against the wall to remove soiled shoes or boots.
One design trick is to use the same cabinetry in the mudroom that is used in the kitchen, giving the impression that both rooms are bigger than they actually are.
Mudrooms often don’t have windows, although it’s ideal if they do. If not, overhead lighting is preferred rather than wall fixtures that protrude into cramped space or standing lamps that could interfere with cleaning the floor.
A modern mudroom might best include closed storage areas and a large closet organized in a way to separate clothing and equipment for the outside. Lacking a closet, the mudroom can accommodate an armoire for storage purposes.
Considering how many uses the mudroom has today, perhaps it deserves an upgrade in title to the all-purpose room.
Bill Primavera is a Realtor® associated with William Raveis Real Estate and Founder of Primavera Public Relations, Inc. (www.PrimaveraPR.com). His real estate site is www.PrimaveraRealEstate.com, and his blog is www.TheHomeGuru.com. To engage the services of The Home Guru to market your home for sale, call 914-522-2076.
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