Ahhhh, springtime in Colorado. It can be sunny and dry like last week, or rainy like this one. There’s a reason locals call this time of year mud season along the Front Range. Spring showers and snowmelt can turn backyards and hiking trails into muddy messes that we inevitably track into our homes. But there’s a smart solution to keep messy paws, boots and jackets from mucking up our living spaces:
Mudrooms!
If you’re unfamiliar with mudrooms, think of a small room or entryway where you can remove wet footwear or clothing before entering your home. Mudrooms usually have hooks for jackets and backpacks, maybe some cubbies for hats and gloves, and a bench where you can sit down to take off your shoes or boots.
In addition to capturing mud, dirt and clutter before it hits the rest of the house, a mudroom can also provide smart storage, an immediate way to clean up any mess tracked in from the outdoors, and a central location for all things pet-related. And when a mudroom is combined with a laundry room, it creates an indispensable utility space. Over the years, we’ve heard many clients say, “I don’t know how we lived without a mudroom before.”
Check out 11 HighCraft mudrooms for design inspiration.
FAMILY FRIENDLY
A mudroom makes home organization an easy practice, not a project, for the entire family. And when your family spends a lot of time in the outdoors and with pets (above), a mudroom becomes essential.
1. Floor-to-Ceiling Storage
In this mudroom-laundry combination, each family member has plenty of space to store their coats, boots and outdoor gear in the floor-to-ceiling cabinets and drawers.
The large format floor tiles, quartz countertops and tile backsplash are easy to keep clean, and the utility sink is perfect for rinsing off muddy shoes.
Explore the full photo gallery of this custom home on Lake Loveland here.
2. Backpack Lockers
In this HighCraft remodel, the mudroom and laundry are next-door to each other, making it easy to soak a stain in the utility sink, or throw wet clothes straight into the washing machine.
Custom cabinets create vertical lockers for each of the kids, providing a dedicated space to shed jackets, shoes and backpacks after school.
3. Family Message Board
This mudroom offers shared open hooks instead of closed-door lockers. Once again, the washer and dryer are within reach, and there’s a convenient bench to take off shoes and boots.
On the opposite wall is the all-important family message board, and a catch-all basket for each member of the household.
PET CENTRAL
A mudroom is more than just a great place to contain your messy pet. It can be the central place to feed them, give them a bath, or hide the litter box. Add a cozy bed, and the room can double as a safe and comfortable place to kennel your pet(s) while you’re away from home.
4. Doggie Day Spa
HighCraft created a stylish mudroom with a dog shower for Falcor, Astro, Blue and Leo (above).
The mini frameless glass door keeps the dogs corralled during showers, and the tiled walls are easy to wipe down. Statement lighting, like these gorgeous wooden pendants (above), prove that a mudroom can be stylish as well as functional.
Read about this Old Town Fort Collins remodel – including dog shower, kitchen remodel and basement remodel – here.
5. Dog Food Station
One key element of a great mudroom is durable and easy-to-clean flooring, like the tiles shown above. Choosing a darker, more forgiving color or pattern is a smart choice with pets.
This mudroom includes a hidden dog food bin …
… as well as wall hooks for dog leashes, a special place for food and water bowls, and a raised dog wash in the adjacent multipurpose laundry room.
6. Hidden Litter Box
In this custom home west of Loveland, doors from the garage and greenhouse lead into the mudroom, making it a great place to clean up before entering the house.
This bench (above) is a great place to kick off your shoes, and it also disguises a small opening in the side of the cabinet for the family cat. The base cabinet hides and captures the mess of the litter box, but the front doors allow easy access when it needs to be cleaned.
Explore the entire off-grid custom home here.
WORKING THE LAND
If anybody needs and deserves a mudroom, it’s Colorado farmers and ranchers who get dirty on a regular basis.
7. Busy Bees
This combination laundry and mudroom is located near the secondary prep kitchen at Dutch Ridge Ranch where the owners transform home-grown honey and lavender into soaps, lotions, oils and teas for market.
After a day of cleaning out horse stalls or harvesting honey and lavender, the mudroom is a good place to remove hats, gloves and chore boots.
Explore the entire custom ranch house here.
8. Farm Living
Husband and wife farm managers – turned smart-farming software execs – finally retired to the custom home of their dreams built by HighCraft. Today, they enjoy setting fence posts, tilling garden beds, and feeding the pigs, sheep, chickens, goats and alpacas on their acreage north of Fort Collins.
Their mudroom captures the couple’s modern farmhouse interior design style, as it literally captures the mess of smelly farm chores to protect their lovely home.
This mudroom also includes a convenient powder bathroom. This half bath is especially handy when the homeowners need to use the facilities during chores, but want to avoid tracking muck into the main living space.
Tour this custom farmhouse forever home here.
9. Rustic Character
When another Northern Colorado couple retired from ranching and moved into town, they wanted their remodeled home to reflect their deep ranching roots and love of the West. Finishes like the river rock backsplash (above) …
… and railroad-spike hooks and corrugated metal with an oxidized patina (above and below) …
… are nods to their former ranching life. The finishes add rustic character to their mudroom, and remind the couple where they came from.
Explore before-and-after photos from their whole-house remodel here.
HIDDEN GEMS
The following mudrooms are two of our favorites that are tucked away from the main entrance of the home.
10. Small, But Mighty
When a client asked us to move her laundry to the main floor, and add a garage to her tiny lot in Old Town, we knew that space would be extremely tight and every inch mattered in the design.
Our architect designed a connective breezeway between the new garage and the kitchen to host the laundry and small mudroom. The space has a shallow nook with hooks for a coat and her dog’s leash, and a bench seat where she can kick off her shoes after a long workday.
The homeowner is delighted with her new stackable washer and dryer on the main floor, and the clever use of limited space.
Learn more about this Old Town farmhouse remodel here.
11. Clean Contemporary
Hidden behind the contemporary reed-glass pocket door on the left (center of photo, above) is the combined laundry and mudroom of a custom home in Old Town Fort Collins.
The utility sink, quartz bench seat with overhead cubbies and coat hooks, and additional storage, make this mudroom crisp, clean and practical. The slab front cabinets and minimalist pulls remain true to the contemporary design.
Learn more about this soft contemporary custom home project here.
Explore other HighCraft laundry room and mudroom projects in our photo gallery or on our Pinterest board.
Whether you build new construction, or remodel what you have, HighCraft’s experienced design-build team is here to help with your project, large or small. Contact HighCraft with questions or to schedule a free consultation.
