Mudroom

One thing I was most excited about having in our new house was a mudroom.  In our old house, we would walk in from the garage directly into the kitchen which meant our kitchen table and island became the dumping ground for everything.  Backpacks, lunch boxes, hats, gloves, bags, toys, mail, you name it.

I cruised lots of pictures on Pinterest to get an idea of what might work for us and we decided on an open cubbie/locker system with baskets and hooks.  I also knew I wanted everyone in the family to have their own designated space.

I'm really happy with the way it all came together.  The baskets below hold some shoes/flip-flops and make it super easy for the kids or any of us to slip on shoes before heading outside to play or get the mail or take out trash.  Each cubbie has three hooks for backpacks, dance bags, hats, etc.  The upper baskets hold other items not as frequently used right now like winter gloves, scarves and hats.

We put our bench across from the cubbies so we can sit to put on and take off shoes and there are back stairs that tie into our main stairs in the mudroom, too. Originally we didn't have this in our plans, but Robby suggested adding them so that when we get home from a trip (or even just a trip to Target - hehe!) and have a million bags and things to take upstairs we would have easy access without having to drag things all through the house.

So far I think I'm training the kids to put their things away there, get their shoes picked up and put away and I'm sure when the craziness of school picks up it will be even more helpful to keep things organized.

From the hallway that leads from the mudroom to the kitchen I have a little nook with a desk, which I love!  It's really small, but it is the perfect spot for me.  It's where I use my computer, where I blog from, the mail gets dropped and sorted here and in the cabinets I keep all of my things like stationary/mailing supplies, camera and phone accessories. I'm still searching for some sort of pretty cork board to put on the wall behind my computer so I can pin up things like invitations and such.  It's great being right off the kitchen because if I need to look up something quickly, it's right there without having to leave the kids, but at the same time, it is hidden and tucked away.  Plus, no more mail on the kitchen counters!

 And, I changed out our kitchen chalkboard message to remind us all to enjoy these last few weeks of summer before school starts back!