Having a well-designed entryway or mudroom with superb organization is essential even if you don’t have a lot of space to work with.
Having an effective space truly comes down to finding creative solutions. Here are the best design tips and organization hacks I have found for a mudroom space.
Mudroom Design Tips:
- Personalize your design. Before you go on a shopping spree or decide to design a mudroom you found on Pinterest, check that it really fits your needs. Make a list of everything that belongs in your mudroom and ensure that the design has a spot for everything.
- Minimize the work needed to put away items. The best way to keep any room, including a mudroom and entryways, clean is that it is super easy to put items where they belong. For instance, it is so much easier to hang a jacket on a coat hook than open a closet door and hang it on a hanger. Everyone in my house is also much more likely to put accessories away, such as gloves and hats, if they can just put them away without having to take a basket down or bring the items to another space in the house like a closet.
- Be realistic on what you need. My dream mudroom isn’t practical for my life right now. Be realistic on the organization solutions you need. For example, we have kids and live in the Northeast, which means we need spots for backpacks, lunchboxes, snowsuits, and boots. However, if we didn’t have kids and lived near a beach in warm weather, then my mudroom priorities would be different.
- Be open to changing the design. Sometimes your first design doesn’t always work. Remember you can always make improvements or add to it. Sometimes it is easier to tackle one piece at a time. For instance, maybe you first work on how you want to organize the mail, keys, and sunglasses. Once you have a solution there, you tackle lunchboxes and backpacks.
- Expand outside of the mudroom area. If you need more space, then don’t be afraid to utilize different areas in your house. Putting a mail bin, backpacks, and lunchboxes on a command wall in a kitchen for instance is a great way to free up more space in your mudroom area.
Mudroom Organization Ideas
Now, here are organization solutions I have used over the years that have really worked for our family. Depending on your space and needs, I hope you find some inspiration for your own mudroom.
Consider a Board and Batten Wall
This is probably one of the hottest trends right now for entryways and for good reason too. Board and Batten walls are beautiful. They can transform a space since they look gorgeous with or without items hanging on it.
They also give you SO MUCH space to hang up items. Buying a coat rack wall mount never gives you enough space between hooks and never has enough hooks.
So, if you are a big family or just don’t like hanging coats in coat closets, a board and batten wall is a must. One board and batten wall allows us enough space to hang up all our coats, snowsuits, and jackets. As a family of four I can get over 30 winter jackets and snow pants on our wall!
Additionally, these are easy to do by yourself and not expensive (but look it!).
Use Double Hooks
To be able to hang a lot of items and hang really anything well, you need a good double hook. I have found these hooks to be so much more effective than the three-pronged hooks.
I used them with my board and batten wall and also by themselves for backpacks and lunchboxes.
Small cubbies to hold all the small items
Small cubbies are completely undervalued. We inherited this wall organizer when we bought our house and after painting it white, I added it to our mudroom area.
It is amazing! The small cubbies hold sunglasses, wallets, headphones, keys, and random items that come inside. They are so much more effective than a basket on a counter. I also like the small cubbies so much more than other entryway organizers because there is never enough space. They are built to hold like one pair of sunglasses and a few pieces of mail.
If you don’t like the look of mess, then use small baskets in the cubbies like this one.
Use bins you don’t have to take down every time
When it comes to keeping items accessible but also put away, my favorite solution is bins. You can use bins in cubbies or just on a floating shelf or even in a coat closet.
I used to use the traditional bins but have now switched to these ones because I can grab items out of the bin without taking it down. Additionally, I can see into the bin without taking the bin down.
These bins were a game changer for storing our winter accessories such as gloves and hats. In the summer, the bins hold goggles, swimsuits, and towels.
Floating shelves add style and valuable storage
Floating shelves are very pretty and can add a lot of storage.
We use ours to hold bins filled with winter accessories, but you could also put other items like umbrellas, sunblock, or library books on them. It is just another spot that can hold items you come in with, so they stay off your kitchen counters.
I would also recommend using floating shelves if you don’t want to do small cubbies. You could set purses on floating shelves or even sunglasses and hats.
Add small hooks for smaller hang up items
In addition to the heavy duty hooks you add for jackets, you need to also find a spot for a few smaller hooks. These are essential for items like purses, hats and other small items. Our small hooks are part of our small cubby system.
If you try to hang these items on the same hooks as jackets, they will get lost under all the jackets. You can get small hooks below the cubbies. You can use command hooks. You can buy a small hook wall mount. It all depends on what you like and what fits your space.
A word of advice on mudroom lockers
I love how beautiful mudroom lockers look. We made some for our last home in the hallway that led to the garage.
While they worked well, I wouldn’t do them again unless I had a LOT of space. You can really only hang a few items in each. There was never enough room for a winter jacket, snow pants and a backpack. I tried so hard to make them work but finally abandoned them for a board and batten wall.
Add a bench to hide shoe piles
Nothing makes me go more insane than a pile of shoes at the doorway. I also know that putting shoes away also just will not happen. Therefore, my favorite shoe storage is a bench. Shoes can be just pushed under it.
Some people add cubbies below a bench for shoes or they put a shoe rack below the bench.
No matter what you decide, the bench hides the shoes and gives you somewhere to sit when you put on your shoes.
A Boot tray will save your floors
If you live somewhere where it either rains a lot or snows a lot, then you absolutely need this. It will save your floors and save you from having to wipe up all the water off the floor.
I have seen a lot of people on Pinterest fill their boot tray with a layer of river rock to make it more pretty. Since I have a toddler who would constantly take the rocks out, our boot tray is not pretty, just functional.
Designated Hooks for Backpacks and Lunchboxes
For a very long time, we would hang the backpacks with all the jackets. It kind of worked but not really because backpacks are so bulky. After that we tried leaving them on the bench but then there was never enough room to sit on the bench.
Finally, we bought two big double hooks and put them at kid height so the kids could hang them up. I highly recommend having backpacks get their own designated hooks.
If you don’t have space in the mudroom area, then you could also consider adding hooks on your command center wall or anywhere on your first floor that makes sense for you.
Key and Mail Spot
While we could use our small cubbies for keys and mail, I wanted them to have their own spot. This is because we have a bad habit in our house of losing keys. I have found that having a key hook has helped a LOT and I love our octopus one.
The same thing happens with the mail. It would get lost on a floating shelf or in a small cubby, so we bought a mail bins You can decide to put these in your mudroom area, or another solution is to put them on your command center wall in your kitchen. We put the mail bins on our command center wall.
Deck out your coat closet with organizers.
Coat closets have so much space that isn’t utilized. My favorite solution is to add a shoe rack inside of your coat closet. When I clean, I put all of the shoes that are not being used every day back in here.
My next favorite go-to is a closet door organizer that you hang on the inside of your closet door. Depending on your personal storage needs, a door organizer with pockets or hooks might be better. You can use command hooks if you just have a few items you want to hang.
I also use the top shelf in the coat closet to store all of the off-season items, extra hats or picnic blankets in bins.
Use Command Hooks for random items that need a home
To have an effective mudroom or entryway space, everything must have a spot. For anything that doesn’t have a home, it will end up on the floor or just somewhere in your house.
Once we had finished our mudroom area, I made a list of things that didn’t have a good home like our dog leash. I added a few command hooks right next to our backdoor for these items.
Creating an effective design and good organization in a mudroom space
After we finished turning an awkward corner into a built-in command center by buying two cabinets, we tackled our mudroom. Having a spot for everything that comes in or that you need to be able to leave is critical.
My go-to mudroom solutions include a board and batten wall with small cubbies and hooks. I like to pair these items with a bench to store shoes under. A floating shelf gives you flexible storage. You can also add some decor on the shelf to create a beautiful space.
Lastly, I would look for a small key and mail organizer near the door and use command hooks for anything else that doesn’t have a home.
I hope the mudroom solutions we use in our home have given you some inspiration for your space.