Don't have one in your house? There's a solution. Find a space out of the line of sight yet as close as possible to the door your family uses most. Perhaps you have a laundry room near the back door or a corner of a garage by the side door you can use. Either of these will work.

If possible, use ceramic tile in your mudroom space. Tile is most often used because it is virtually indestructible and is easily cleaned. If you're creating a mudroom in your garage, the concrete flooring will work too. Customize the space with lots of cubbies, hooks, storage boxes, hangers and other organizing tools. This will give ample space for soccer balls, hockey sticks, fishing poles, cleats, sneakers and rain gear.

In an ideal situation, your mudroom will be near laundry or sink facilities to allow for easy cleanup of muddy shoes and sports equipment.

With just a little effort on your part, you'll have a more organized way of keeping clutter and dirt in their place.

Here are two converted garage spaces we designed.












In the first, we took 3/4 of a bay in a garage with double doors and concealed the mudroom entry in the door so the existing façade stayed intact. We chose an off-the-shelf (IKEA) floor-to-ceiling drawer unit and flanked it with low closets for hanging and to allow for custom box storage above. Shoe racks, baskets and a shelf for outgoing mail and cell phone charging line the other wall.

In the second mudroom conversion, we installed custom-built cubbies and cabinets in a previously tight laundry room/hallway adjacent to a monster- sized garage. The expanded mudroom still allows for two big cars and an 8'x10' storage area.