In many parts of the country it's mud season and some people are lucky enough to have a mud room to store shoes and other outdoor items. If you don't have one, consider what Wendy did a few years back - she created a mud "room" out of a closet and a darn cute one at that.
With the safety of a door to hide behind it's all too easy for a closet to become disorganized and messy but removing the door makes this space more accessible as well as adds incentive to keep it tidy and functional. Wendy's husband built a bench (padded with a repurposed crib mattress!) and lined the closet with bead board so it's just as nice as the rest of the house. Wendy added a basket for shoes and hung her children's photos on the hooks so each would have one to call their own.
Wendy has since moved, but we bet she misses her mini mud room! You can read more about it on her blog The Shabby Nest (and find out what she used an electric knife for).
Thanks Wendy!
(Image: The Shabby Nest)
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I love this idea!
This is an adorable use of space!
It looks nice, but I've never heard of a mud room. Also, there's a "mud season"? But then I probably don't know this because I'm from California, don't mind me.
this is great! i have a built in entry that is almost exactly like this! it's great!
If I had something like this I would convert to a no-shoes house...we want to but there's nowhere in our entry to sit and take off shoes...
Posts like this always make me wish I had random closets everywhere that could be repurposed - I'd love to turn a little closet like this into a reading nook too...growing up there was a little nook built into our hallway just near the kitchen, specifically for the telephone (remember when they had cords? LOL). It had a seat, floating open shelf (phone book underneath, phone and pad of paper on top) and a light. Storage cupboards above and below. All designed by my grandmother. Sigh. I miss that house....particularly the storage EVERYWHERE.
Ingenius!!! Well done.
this is pretty much what i'm planning to do to my entry closet! thanks for a great visual :) very cute and well done.
Shannon Kay, i'm up in alaska, and it's break-up season right now- snow is melting (hopefully, sometimes it'll snow into may....ugh), and with that, comes MUD! very messy time of the year.
And TheLittlestChicken- go for no shoes in the house! no one in alaska wears shoes in the house (well, many alaskans don't), and hawaiians don't as well. when i was in california for a bit, i still took off my shoes out of habit, and people would make comments about "knowing who the alaskans were" because our shoes would be lined up at the door (i was there with 2 friends). much cleaner :)