10 Mudroom Ideas That Prove Even the Dirtiest Place in Your Home Can Be Beautiful

For smaller homes, an organized laundry room and mudroom combination is ideal. Decorator Fran Keenan proves that small space shouldn't be a limiting factor for functionality. In her Birmingham home, she transformed the hallway beside her kitchen into a combined mudroom, laundry room and bar.  

At one end of the mudroom in our 2019 Idea House, chalkboard paint on the built-in hutch creates a great place for a family calendar, notes to guests, or weather updates. The walls and trim are painted in Sherwin-Williams' Classic Light Buff (SW 0050), while the rest of the hutch is in Grecian Ivory (SW 7541). The painted floor detail picks up these two colors for an extra custom touch.

An interesting tile pattern on the floor adds character, color, and pattern, and it's easier to clean up than an accent rug. Designer Ellen Kavanaugh renovated the original laundry room in her home to this mudroom layout. She brightened the walls with an easy-to-clean satin paint (Benjamin Moore Garden Cucumber, 644) and floral wallpaper (Rebecca Atwood Blooms in Soft Green).

If your dog is waiting by the door for the kids to get home from school anyway, make it a comfortable space by adding a place for a dog bed or food and water bowls in the mudroom. In our 2021 Louisville, Kentucky, Idea House, designer Sarah Bartholomew envisioned the mudroom as the ideal place for a dog to rest while all of their essentials are also stored neatly in overhead cabinets.

For times when you just can't get those boots off without sitting down, add a bench to your mudroom. Plus, benches offer ways for even more storage, whether under the bench with drawers or inside the bench with a flip-top. For our 2018 Idea House in Austin, Texas, designer Meredith Ellis proved mudrooms don't have to be all work and no play. Steal the look for your mudroom with a coat of Sherwin-Williams' Cyberspace (SW 7076) on the cabinets. 

Per their name, mudrooms require durable floors and design to stand up to the elements that may be tracked in on shoes and coats. In our 2015 Charlottesville, Virginia, Idea House, decorator Bunny Williams wanted a space for any essential outdoor wear to live. Creating a dedicated space for muddy boots and shoes to live allows the rest of your home to stay clean between vacuum days.

Make your mudroom meld with your personal style. In this Lexington, Kentucky, farmhouse, designer Matthew Carter swapped hooks for antlers to match the rustic feel of the Pennsylvania bluestone floors and the homeowner's lifestyle.

Even though a mudroom doesn't sound like a glamorous place, there's no reason you can't make it so! Adding a chandelier and chic elements will make your mudroom one of the most stylish spaces in your home. Designer Sidney Wagner chose a bold color and wallpaper, with a modern light fixture, to jazz up Maggie and George Bullwinkel's Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, home.

Designer Lindsey Cheek wasn't intimidated by the lack of space when she renovated her colonial home in Wilmington, North Carolina with her husband Grayson. The side door of their home serves as a mudroom and home office all at once. A free-standing clothes rack is an ideal space for hanging coats and storing shoes before entering your home.

Vintage-inspired touches in a mudroom can make it feel inviting and personalized without having to break the bank. In our 2020 Idea House, the Buchanan Construction team added this paneled cabinetry with a warm faux leather finish on the front. The vintage style dog prints are from the Lauren Liess for One Kings Lane collection.