The Strategies

Change the mood. The dingy white walls in the basement space were brightened with light blue paint; the doors, once a lugubrious brown, became crisp white. A striped cotton rug — machine washable, of course — adds another fresh touch. Now the space feels less like a hallway and more like a room.

Free up space, and use it wisely. The mudroom had lots of wall area but no coat hooks. And the main storage units were wire-mesh drawers that Jeff had brought from his old house. These took up too much room, and the tangled confusion of items they held contributed to the disorder. After the drawers were banished to the garage, there was space for a tall, mirrored hallway organizer and a three-shelf rack that gets boots and shoes off the floor.

Give new life to an old favorite. Sue and her sons didn’t even know what they had stored in the yellow dresser, a treasured family piece made by Sue’s late husband’s great-grandfather. As it turned out, the drawers were half-empty. These days the dresser serves as the mudroom’s command center. Repainted white, with new ceramic knobs and brass label holders, it easily accommodates the contents of Jeff’s ungainly mesh units (mostly winter gear).

Corral it. A bin organizer provides cubbies for bicycle helmets, soccer cleats, balls, and sunscreen. Jeff’s binoculars and bird guides perch on top and are at the ready should a rare bird fly by. Keys have a home, too, on a wall-mounted color-coded organizer.

Pare down. The operative question throughout was “Do we need this?” The family’s collection of baseball caps was edited from 25 to 12. Other hoarded items, like plastic bags, were recycled. And things that didn’t belong in the mudroom, like laundry detergent and craft projects, were relocated.

The Gear

For details on the products used to create Sue's mudroom, see Six Must-Have Products for the Mudroom.