The Foyer (aka Mudroom)

So if you don't live in Maine, you might not understand our obsession with mudrooms.  You see we only have a few seasons.

• Winter (really, really long) with lots of boots, gloves, hats that need a place to be put away - not to mention ice melt grit that gets tracked into the house on your boots.  
• Summer (really, really short - but fantastic!) which means flip flops and beach sand that gets tracked into the house.  
• Mud season - which is that weird time between Winter and Summer when the top layer of the ground has melted, but the permafrost below it is still a solid hunk of ice and the mud seems endless.  

All of this means you need a hard working entrance that can handle the elements, but still look warm and inviting.  It's a tall order, but we're trying to do just that (keep in mind, this used to be the garage, so it's changed a lot!!!  Here's the starting point - concrete floor, unfinished walls and ceiling - as the guys opened up the wall into the main house).

The mudroom was originally the garage - day 1, when the guys opened it up to the main house

First step was to get it all closed in, with lots of insulation and nice new drywall.  Don't you love the tall ceilings?  What a dramatic entrance for what was once a basic ranch home!

 

Next thing we needed is a durable, easy to clean floor.  I can't tell you how obsessed I am with this tile.  It really looks like wood and terrazzo, but it's a heavy duty tile.  It also has a non-skid surface, so it's great on a cold night when you track snow in with your boots.

What else?  Storage, storage, storage.  Seriously, is it possible to have too much storage?  I came up with this design, inspired by a Pinterest post months ago.  It has a center row of baskets for masks (after all, we still have COVID to contend with), gloves and hats.  But it also has lots of space for boots and coats. 

A bit of romance (because after all, we're adding romance to this ranch) is accomplished with this antique newel post and balusters.   They took me weeks to strip the old paint and refinish - but totally worth it! 

Antique newel post - they don't make them like this anymore!!

Once the flooring was in place, Kyle and I started turning the design into a full scale plan.  I had ordered lots of baskets (to hide all the mismatched gloves and mittens!) and wanted to make sure the custom built shelving was sized correctly.  As we started drawing up the plan, he made a cardboard 3D mockup, so we could really get a sense of how it fit in the space (cardboard is a girl's best friend!!).  Not surprisingly, we ended up making a few tweaks.  But ultimately we found a plan that worked.

And now that he's gotten it all put together, well it looks pretty fabulous, don't you think?  

Almost finished mud bench

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