When You Don't Have A Mudroom

I don't have a mudroom.  With our relatively large family of 6, not having a dedicated space to hang coats, backpacks, snow pants, hats, gloves, shoes, boots and all the other odds and ends that gather at any given point of entry makes getting in and out of the house that much more difficult. Prior to 1950, dedicated mudroom space as we know it today was unheard of.  Older homes often had a transitional space that existed between the garage and entry into the house, but the standards of finishing were completely different than what we've come to expect.  A mudroom would have been a small room that was there to separate the exterior elements from the interior.  Although old homes often boast some of the most exquisite and detailed built-ins, you'll be hard-pressed to find an old home with this level of finish work in that small transitional corridor.  The idea of a high design mudroom featuring customized lockers, drawers, heated floors, built-in benches and storage is a new standard set by the discretionary buyers of the 21st century.  A mudroom in its day would have been quite literally just that.

Since moving to this home several years ago, we've been living without a dedicated catch-all space and its forced me to think of solutions outside the box.  The main door that we use for coming and going is on the back of our house.

It's a terribly awkward space due to the number of stairs that surround it - literally 5 different sets surrounding one small landing.  This creates a sort of death trap situation where one can be tripped at any given moment.

The covered space outside the back door has served its purpose providing retreat from the elements while unlocking the door and admittedly, serving as a place to pile shoes when we come in the house.  While having a covered spot to toss them is nice, it makes getting back out the door without tripping down the steps a challenge.  I don't need to go into too much depth about the way it looks, you can see for yourself.

It became apparent rather soon after moving in that we needed to get creative with the space we had.  The school bags and kid's winter gear were out of control with no dedicated spot for them to land.  The key to organizing any area for me always comes back to dedicating a spot for each and every item, but sometimes finding a spot - especially one others will conform to, takes time.

Today, I'm introducing you to my love affair with the IKEA PAX wardrobe system.

At the bottom of our basement stairs lies this completely awkward, unlit, dark, dingy corner of the basement where exposed pipes are hidden by a random soffit.  The area was a true eye sore and rendered itself useless by its dead and lifeless location.  It dawned on me that the space I was so desperately seeking was right here - all I needed to do was find a wardrobe system that would conform to its dimensions.

Not looking to invest a fortune in my temporary mudroom, I knew I wanted to look to IKEA for solutions.  A quick internet search in the name of customizable wardrobes will take you right to PAX.  What I love about the system is the amount of flexibility it offers.  You basically start by selecting your 'locker' dimensions and from there can customize them with shelves, drawers, hangers, bars, slide outs, shoe racks, the list goes on and on.  The lockers come in 3 different widths (20", 30" or 40"), 2 different heights (79" or 93") and 2 different depths (15" or 24").

I first calculated the width of space I was working with (79") which very quickly narrows down the combination of wardrobes I could fit and the width of each one.   Wanting to maximize the space and have it appear as close to built-in as possible, I opted for 2, 20" units flanking 1, 30" leaving about 4" on each side of the unit.  The height of our ceilings dictated the lower height units, which were still a little tall and required a quick trimming.

I wanted to keep the storage wide open although PAX offers a wide variety of door styles if you prefer enclosed storage.  Being that this unit would be living in a basement and wanting to keep the putting away process as simple as possible, I chose to forgo the doors altogether.

When it came to selecting from all the options the PAX system offers for customizing the wardrobes, I sat down and thought about every last item I wanted to be able to fit.  I wanted to be able to walk down to this area of the basement and have access to everything I need to get our family out the door.  Up until this point, I could count on at least a few sessions running up and down the stairs gathering everything from beach towels to swim goggles to beach bags.  In the interest of simplifying, I wanted the new mudroom to hold:

• Kids small winter gear (hats, gloves, scarves)

• Adult small winter gear (hats, gloves, scarves)

• Beach towels

• Seasonal products like sunscreen and bug spray

• Sunglasses

• Bags/totes for gathering items

• Baseball hats/sun hats/bandanas

• Swim goggles

• An area for keys, spare change - a drop zone so to speak

• School bags

• Activity bags (dance, swim team, etc - prepacked ready to go)

• Snowpants

• Extra shoe and boot storage

I drew up a quick sketch of the space and began to visually put it all away on paper making sure I had adequate shelves and drawers to stock it all away.  The only real obstacle I faced was trying to figure out how to have the kids hang their backpacks and other more 'hook-worthy' items.  While the 24" depth of the PAX works perfectly for hangers, I knew I couldn't expect my younger ones to properly hang their coat each time.  I went ahead with a hanging bar and found these hangers that function like a hook at The Container Store.  They work great for throwing backpacks, snow pants and activity bags on.

I like that the bottom center shelf serves as both a bench and a step stool for the younger ones.

I slid a boot mat under the bench for wet mittens or boots to dry on before putting away.  On the high shelf, I store all our totes, insulated lunch bags and beach bags for day trips inside the largest bag.

While the PAX system offers the option of wire basket drawers, I like that these solid drawers keep dirt and gravel from winter gear contained and can be easily vacuumed or wiped out without the mess spreading.

Like my experience with most other IKEA products, these have been incredibly easy to maintain (wipe clean with a damp cloth) and seemingly unscratchable or stainable.

What was once the dingiest corner of the basement is now a crisp, organized, fresh looking space that works hard for our family.

While in a perfect world, this space would be right inside the door, it's become second nature when the kids walk in the door to proceed straight downstairs to hang up their gear.

I loved this system so much I ended up using it in other areas of our home as well.  And if you're really ambitious, there's all sorts of IKEA hack ideas online to really upgrade your wardrobes.

( image via )

I don't know though, there's just something about the simplicity of bright white open shelving that makes a space feel happy.  Who else is a PAX lover?