DIY multipurpose mudroom reveal

The conversion of our “walk through/transitional” room into a multipurpose mudroom and reading area is finished. Yay! Well, it’s as finished as it’s going to get for now. This winter, I will convert the wall with the hooks into storage lockers with barn doors but I need my dad’s help for that. I think it will be a great winter project! He thinks NOT.

Before:

Progress:

After:

Do you have a room like this? A room that serves no purpose and you wish you had another space but think you don’t have the room for it? It’s so easy to think of a mudroom as a traditional space right as you walk into your home that has the walls & flooring to define the space. Do you know what I mean? This room is right as you walk into our house from the driveway and use to be the old family room (about 12 years ago) and it’s bigger than the traditional mudroom and that is where my brain has been struggling. Tearing down and adding walls  would require my dad’s help and he told me to go away when I proposed that so for now, I’m using what I’ve got and attempting to make it work! This space is still a “walk through” room between the kitchen and family room except now, it serves a useful purpose. Additional coat and shoe storage as well as a reading area.

This is the view from the garage/foyer door (looking into the kitchen) before,

After,

Sorry, I had to hide our Christmas tree behind that big yellow graphic thingy. More on the early Christmas tree later. It’s kind of strange though having a tree up in early October!

I added some bar height stools to the pennisula area as well as a shelf over the chest of drawers which is our craft storage area. I wanted to incorporate an equestrian theme along with the fall colors and decor. Isn’t the navy equestrian pillow adorable from Target’s new Threshold line? I think it adds a fun pop of color to the brown leather chair. It’s a great place to cozy up with a book.

I love the black herringbone picture frame from Target. I think the picture of my step daughter showing our pony Tag, looks great in it! This picture was taken many years ago when she was 5. I cannot believe how much time has gone by. Where does the time go?

I LOVE this picture frame. Thank you Target :).

These are the barn closet doors that my dad and I made last September. This was one of our first projects we posted on the blog. You can see how we converted this boring bookcase by adding shelving and diy doors here and here. By adding the coat hooks outside on the wall, this frees up the space behind these doors for additional storage. I am hoping to add shelving inside one of these days.

My goal was to incorporate this room into the family room so I added  board and batten and painted the walls white dove and wythe blue, the same color as the family room.  Our newly repurposed toy box now serves as our shoe storage area.

The window set me back a couple weeks. It’s awkward shape and lack of character made my brain hurt. I tried a roman shade and it didn’t look right and I couldn’t use panel drapery as they would hang over the hooks. Thankfully after texting back and forth with my friend Kim from Sand and Sisal she said, “oh I love the baby board and batten”. That made me laugh! I added a piece of 1×10 pine to the top of the window and added trim molding around the edges as well as some thin pieces of pine to create a “baby” board and batten look. Sorry Kim, I’ll use that term forever now.

Garth is the newest four legged member of our family. The spot right in front of the door happens to be one of his favorites.

He also has been known to steal one or two of those little o’l pumpkins on the ottoman as well. I love the details on the navy pillow.

A little play time.

I used my outdoor rug as the first layer and added a cotton throw rug on top to create some additional contrast on the floor. I think one of my upcoming diy projects will be installing hardwood flooring in this room and the adjoining family room. Do you know how much money you can save by installing it yourself? It’s insane the amount people charge to install it.

I am pretty happy to have this entire wall dedicated to coat and shoe storage. It’s not your traditional mudroom but when you don’t have a mudroom and have a large open wall, this is the solution! This room serves as a reading area, craft storage area, seating area at the peninsula and an area for coats and shoe storage. How about you, have you created a diy mudroom area in your home?

Disclaimer: Target provided some of the home decor items in this post. All opinions are mine.

Check out our board and batten tutorial, DIY barn closet door tutorial and our DIY shoe storage tutorial.

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