The main item on my "wish list" when I built my house was a mudroom. Other than that (and a basement ceiling taller than 6'8'), I'd have been perfectly content to stay in my last home forever (well, okay, maybe not forever but certainly for a few more years. Our "new house" is only 2 blocks from our old one. No kidding.
The mudroom in my house ended up being "a small space where a series of doors intersect." At least that's what the builder called it. In this very small space, there are two different doors to garages (look closely, the white door on the left and the one that you see in the corner are solid core, metal fire doors (code in my area for attached garages), they're safe, but ugly. I adhered pieces of wood trim to them with gorilla glue and a nail gun. They don't match the other doors in my house exactly, but I think they look a whole lot better than they did. There's also a door to the outside (the brown wood one), a door to the powder room, a door to the kitchen and a double door closet.
I also managed to squeeze in a sink with storage cabinets and a corner bench seat with shelves under it for shoes. The mudroom has a slate floor, (Home Depot for $0.97 per 12"x12" tile), Greeff "Gardener's Toile" wallpaper and two different colors of paint cover the walls.
My friend, Jerry, and I built the seat out of left over tongue and groove bead board, window casing and some cherry veneered plywood that I found in the dumpster in front of my house while it was being built. Imagine the convenience! Dumpster diving in my own front yard! (The neighbors, I'm certain, were "not amused".)
I mounted an old tool box, (purchased at a flea market from Joe and Sandy at
Rhubarb Reign), sideways on the wall beneath the cabinet above the sink. It holds paper towel and a collection of vintage linen towels. A soap dish from an old school house hangs on the wall.
On the adjacent wall, a collection of vintage flower seed packets purchased from Jan at
Gracie's Cottage hangs in a frame along with metal "GARDEN" letters purchased from my friend, Diane Passi, and another sign purchased at Kane County flea market, earlier this spring. The seed company was a "long ago" business in my home town of Rockford, IL.
The top of the cabinet above the sink houses vintage watering cans that used to belong to my grand parents and my mother in law. Too precious to use outside and far more fun to see in the dead of winter as I pull on my boots to go outside to shovel.
An old wooden teapot cutout (complete with her scissors and a key to "something unknown") as well as the salt cellar from my grandmother's kitchen which now holds stick matches. My collection of different types of twine and string always at the ready in an old tool box with a leather strap.
As fun as all of these things are, my favorite item in this room is the magnetic dry erase board that I built out of the "leftovers" from the bench seat.
I didn't take photos as I did it (since it was done in my "pre-bloggy" days) but it's this simple: 1) purchase a magnetic dry erase board at Office Depot, Target, or another store that sells office supplies. Remove the icky aluminum frame, and 2) trim it with pieces of window casing. Window casing has a small space in the back of it that will accommodate the thickness of the board. I also put a piece of "window sill" under it as a ledge to hold the eraser and markers.
Everyone in the family has a "color", family events like birthdays and parties to which everyone is invited are denoted in black marker. The days are "erased" as they occur and obligations are met. The numbers for the days in each month are a different color and the months "roll forward" as time passes. The board is conveniently located between the kitchen and the back door where everyone sees it at least twice a day as they come and go. As my sons grew and their schedules became their own, they learned to put their obligations on the board so that I know where they are and whether to expect them for meals. I also use the magnet part to pin up lists, coupons, the reminder to have the car emissions tested and other "stuff" that I need to remember. It's been a life saver in our home!
If you have questions or need measurements or a materials list for either the bench seat or the marker board, please let me know.
xo,
S
Linking to:
Between Naps On The Porch
Coastal Charm
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Primp
Savvy Southern Style
Uncommonly Yours
