And just like that, it’s February. We are so excited about this month with the Olympics coming up. Also, Little Miss and I will be joining my parents in Nicaragua for our annual volunteer vacation. We will be working with a group of nuns who make improvements for handicapped people. They make and sell granola, yogurt, honey, and more to raise money to do things for the poor. I missed last year because it was too soon to leave Little Miss, but since both of my parents will be there, we are taking her along. Our usual group of participants will be meeting up in Nicaragua, and I can’t wait for them to see Little Miss in the flesh and get to know her. Most of us just see each other once a year in some remote place, and it just like meeting up with camp friends once a year. We have a great time while doing some good work for others. Now, let’s get to our revisited post from last year. It’s one of the best things we did to our house, and we use this reinvented space several times a day.
For our latest project, Yankee turned a cramped, dark coat closet and side entry into a mudroom.
The side entrance to our house is off of the kitchen. It’s the area where our laundry/pantry is located. A closet with awkward doors was located right inside the door. I am cringing showing you this picture, but it shows this really became a gross drop area. We removed the doors right after we moved in and added a storage bench that we had, but the space just wasn’t right. Since we had so much luck turning an awkward corner into a mini-mudroom in our Syracuse house, we decided that we could make the closet area into a mudroom, too. This one would be bigger and provide more storage which is always a plus when there’s a toddler in the house.
We wanted the space to feel like a real mudroom so, Yankee removed the existing closet, and tore out the upper part of the wall and the door frame. Just opening that up made a huge difference, and at that point we had a nice open area that gave us a feel for how much more usable space we would have. We hired a professional do the drywall and to add a recessed light. It was so worth it.
Then over the course of several week-ends and evenings, he worked on the project. We decided that we would wrap the room in board and batten to give it more of a mudroom feel. We painted the walls the same as the rest of our main floor, Cotton Grey by Behr.
Shelves for baskets above and a bench with storage for shoes below seemed like the best use of the space for us. We added cabinets for items that we use infrequently. We store Gracie’s dry food and treats in a basket, and there’s also one for gloves, hats, etc.
Coat hooks finished off the design. It is so much more convenient now to walk in the door and and have a place to sit to take off our shoes and to hang our bags and coats. Who knew hooks could make me so happy?
It’s one more project down, but we still have a few more to do. Next up, we will be adding bookshelves around the French doors in the play/guest room.
If this is a project you have been thinking about doing, I say go for it. The worst part of the whole deal was the dust from sanding the drywall, but that only lasted a few days.
Cheers!
Marty Oravetz says
Oh my word, it looks amazing.
Beth says
You have given me an idea, I will need to think about it a while, but I love what you have done.
Jordan says
Go for it, Beth!