Making the Most of Interior Spaces (part 1)

by Paulette Sodemann

Kitchens and baths are by far the most common remodeling projects, but there are other smaller projects that contribute to making your house comfortable, efficient, and beautiful.

For example, we are doing a lot of spiffing up of mudrooms.  In our climate, with snow in the winter and mud in the spring, it’s nice to have a transition area from the outside to the main part of the house.  But mudrooms are more than just a place for shucking boots and shoes. They are evolving into beautifully organized areas where there is a place for everything.  For households with children, lockers or cubbies at just the right height make it easy for the little ones to leave their backpacks, hang their jackets, and store their footwear. An adult household doesn’t need those hooks 40 inches off the floor, but closet space for outerwear, handbags, and umbrellas are a great addition.  A mudroom equipped with counterspace is a convenient stopping point when bringing multiple bags of groceries in from the car.  Enclosed storage, whether it’s wall cabinets or a pantry-type closet, can handle all those bulk items and overstock that don’t need to go in the kitchen.  More and more, the counters include docking stations to recharge the cell phone or laptop.  Organizers can handle keys, mail, and other household miscellaneous.

Further enhancing the mudroom are updated laundry centers.  Main floor laundry rooms are not only step savers, but make doing the laundry a lot more enjoyable.  Relocated from the basement, the old free-standing laundry tub is replaced by a drop-in sink surrounded by a countertop.  Recessed washer boxes keep the supply hoses, discharge hose and shutoff valve into the wall, accessible but out of sight.  The sink can be eliminated entirely if desired and replaced with a counter or storage.  Front loaders also allow placement of a counter over the machines. The counter is higher than standard, but the point is to maximize usable space.
Of course, in much of the older housing stock, mudrooms are not more than tiny entranceways. Even so, there are creative ways to carve space from an adjacent room, the garage itself, or a back porch.  It doesn’t matter how big or small your space is, just use every inch of it to create order out of chaos.
More interior remodeling ideas in my next blog.