We have been looking at new houses recently and I have been surprised at the differences I have between new construction and old houses. And I don't just mean the obvious things like windows that open and shut properly and insulation and closet space. No, I was thinking about things like the mudroom. Not one of the new houses we walked through had one. Where do you put your stuff, I wondered. Mudrooms may not seem like they are very exciting, but they serve many purposes. First they keep the mess and clutter out of the rest of your home.

Second, they provide a place for you to store things like your keys, your purse, the kids backpacks. Third, it stores things you only need on your way out the door - umbrellas, jackets, shoes, mail. And fourth, my sanity requires a mudroom. The idea of my children's shoes strewn all over my house is enough to make my head explode. Amy at Inspired DIY writes:

I miss my old house. I miss it because it was made by us and had many of the details that we needed and loved. I miss my mudroom. I love having a back mudroom that functions as catch all and organizes the outside world before it comes inside.

The House We Call Home has renovated a gorgeous mudroom, complete with a black slate floor and cocoa colored grout. The lower 2/3 of the walls have crisp white wainscotting and the upper third is painted a bright orange. The jolt of color is striking. She writes:

We ended up painting the walls twice. The first time it was a lovely green colour which looked really pretty. But, the look was more pottery barn and I felt it was to safe and predictable. What I really want for this house is my own look...I have always had to consider resale and keeping it buyer friendly....so now I want my own somewhat eclectic taste to show through, I can show off all my bits and pieces that I have collected over the years! Most of all....I want people to smile when we open the door.

I can't imagine anyone walking into that room and not smiling. I think it would be the perfect pick me up color for a long dark gloomy winter. Bangor Bungalow describes her ideal mudroom:

The goal of the mudroom is to hang coats and snowpants, put snowy boots and various shoes, store dog-walking stuff, and generally get into the house with your stuff. We're keeping it pretty simple, since it will be small.

The is my idea of a mudroom too. A place to contain stuff that I don't want to track into my house. Kitrainia at One Sixty describes a hilarious mudroom addition that was put on by the previous owners.

Normal people might think to hire a contractor. Do it yourselfers might attempt to build it themselves. But this depression era couple decided to save themselves a lot of time, money, and effort by simply attaching a pre-built shed to the house. Yes, they just took a shed, plopped it onto the concrete, chopped 1/4 of the roof off so it would line up with the rest of the rooflines, and called it done. We know because of this weird roof line - plus they didn't bother to take the old roof (ie roofing shingles and all that jazz) off of the 1/4 left roof side that is now part of our upstairs attic.

Theresa at Bullfrogs and Butterflies did not have a separate room to devote as a mudroom, but she managed to secure a corner of the laundry room to have built in storage put in. The result is perfect for kids and all their assorted junk. When she isn't blogging about her life at Notes from the Trenches, Chris is working at rescuing her house from a century of neglect and bad taste. She can also be found writing about home improvement and design at DIY This N' That.