For the Spring 2021 One Room Challenge I am taking on our Mudroom. This is the workhorse of the house. It has to be filled with functional storage for all seasons, and ours is an unusual, dark room which needs more light, too. I’ll let you in on the inspiration board as well as plans for this welcoming room where organization and storage are critical — all infused with some Mid Modern style. Be sure to check in on all of the other ORC projects on the ORC blog here.

Here we are. Finally. At the end of the One Room Challenge. And I will tell you: earlier this week I wasn’t sure I would be done. But I am. Things are different than I had planned — the room is blue, not green; several items never arrived. But the Mid Modern Mudroom is done, and I am excited to share it with you!

We first saw this house on Facetime when we lived in LA. Our realtor walked us through several houses, and when she opened the door to the Mudroom she said, “I have no idea what this room is…” But I knew. It could be a mudroom — a room I had wanted for years. I knew this strange, ugly, and awkward space had so much potential. We just had to unearth it.

So here’s where we began: the Mudroom is an L-shaped room. I divided it into two separate zones with distinct functions: the Storage Room and the Mudroom.

And this project had three big design priorities:

• Function and Storage: there’s a lot to fit into this strange little room without allowing it to look crammed. We’ll see if I can accomplish that!

• Light and Lighting: this room has no windows, so we will be replacing the exterior door with something that will let in some natural light. We will also replace all of the light fixtures in the space, too.

• Mid Century Style: it all has to work together, and the room needs some style, too. I’ll be using a combination of new and vintage items to give it a Mid Century vibe — I’m thinking Mid Modern Milan, personally.

Part One: The Mudroom

Since this is the entrance we use coming and going from our home, it is an important space. The Mudroom entrance was nondescript and prefunctory before — with no character or style. It used to be a one-car garage which was enclosed by a previous owner. Additionally, there were no windows into the room, and the door was an old metal door for a garage.

I have been on the hunt for Mid Century doors for this house for several years. Finally, this spring I found two doors — a matched set — at a local architectural salvage place. I had been quoted $12,000 to replace both the front and Mudroom doors with new ones, but this pair of vintage Mid Modern doors cost $650 total.

The doors came out of a church and are heavy and fabulous, but they needed some work. So I spent more than a week sanding and painting in the back yard. And here’s the finished result.

Emtek sent this gorgeous door hardware to use on our vintage door. We now have keyless entry and chrome handles that are absolutely perfect. I chose Emtek because they offer amazing hardware customization. I was able to mix and match the features and look that I wanted for each door. I can’t wait to show you the front door — once we get that one hung, too!

But for now, let’s just go inside! Welcome to our new Mudroom!

Perhaps a refresher on where we began… dark, windowless, and lacking any sort of function.

And here’s the finished product!

Part One: The Mudroom

A good Mudroom functions as the drop zone for the comings and goings of a household. We live in Colorado where we need good winter clothing and accessible storage. We are also a shoe-free household, so the Mudroom needed to accommodate all of our shoes as well.

My husband designed a very functional cubby system from several Ikea Billy bookcases and a countertop. He started this two years ago and nearly finished it — and then life got in the way. So it has been functional but unfinished for two winters. It was time to take it to functional and finished.

Each of us has a series of smaller bins for hats, gloves and mittens, and scarves. We also have designated places to hang coats and jackets as well as bags and purses. Shoe storage is underneath. And I positioned hooks for longer items like dog leashes and snowpants on the wall to the side.

The storage bins at the top are for items we don’t use as frequently, and the top is dressed with vintage books and globes. But if we need more storage space eventually, we can place more bins at the top, too.

It’s customary to show Mudroom storage when it is staged — hardly full and tastefully appointed with the obligatory straw hat and basket. But that’s not life with a Mudroom, frankly — not at our house, anyway. So, bucking the trend, here is a real-life Mudroom with everything put away in its place. There are just two jackets missing — they are at the dry cleaners.

This room was supposed to be green. But the rug, which had been described as being green and blue, arrived and is definitely blue. I didn’t really have time to make a change, so… now it is a turquoise room. Just inside the door — which was originally supposed to be stained — I placed a chair which I’d bought for the Fall 2019 One Room Challenge. This Mid Century piece was a Facebook Marketplace steal and feels very Camelot. It never worked in my office, though, and has been in the living room for the last 18 months. Now it has the perfect home.

Next to it is a chunk of the maple tree we had to cut down in our backyard this spring. We saved many of the tree’s branches, and I was glad to use a piece in the Mudroom. I used a draw knife and peeled the bark, sanded it a bit, and voila! Free table!

The mirror is an old window that I found by the side of the road about 25 years ago. I had a mirror cut for it and added some hooks. We have used it for our car keys and a quick inspection before leaving for many years.

The dresser and the lamp are both Mid Century pieces — Facebook Marketplace finds. Emtek sent some glass pulls which dress the drawers beautifully. The rabbit art piece is a Japanese noren — a doorway curtain. It’s hung from a thin scrap of walnut with a simple end detail.

One of the design priorities was to bring better light into this room. Not only does the new door provide more light, but I also replaced the truly terrible original fixture with a Sputnik-style light from Illuminate Vintage (the Houston in chrome). With five lights, it makes the room bright and cheery even at night — a shocking difference given the lack of light to which we had become accustomed.

Part Two: The Room of REquirement

While doing the One Room Challenge, my family and I started to call this storage section The Room of Requirement, a Harry Potter reference. And here’s the thing: we live in a house without a garage, a basement, or an attic, so this little, skinny room is truly “the place where everything is hidden,” just like the Room of Requirement.

Before, it was a hot mess. We had just thrown in some cheap mental shelves and a leftover cabinet, and all the clutter landed in this room. The lighting was terrible — two sconces each with a single bulb. And there was absolutely no character to this room.

But here’s the after…

I chose the Elfa shelving system from The Container Store for the storage wall which worked beautifully. It is not the cheapest storage system out there, but it is incredibly flexible. We cut shelves to the right sizes, placed them close together to maximize the space, and used drawers to hold smaller items, too.

The whole wall is organized into zones: cleaning, kitchen, tools, holiday storage, seasonal items. I emptied the entire room and KonMari’d everything taking loads of items to be donated. So everything here has been thoughtfully considered and deserves a place on the shelves.

Because the shelves are open, items will inevitably get dusty. I used plastic bins for seasonal decor, loose items, and things which can be grouped easily like vacuum cleaner attachments. Each like group has its own plastic bin with a lid. Each bin is labeled with a custom label from Owl and Ember. I sent Holly a list of what I needed, and she provided vinyl labels which will last a long time — but will also be relatively easy to remove if needed. She even sent blanks!

I created several rules for myself while organizing this wide range of disparate items:

• No cardboard boxes. Everything is in a clear or visible container so I can see what’s inside.

• No stacking. Even when I needed to use more shelves that are close together, nothing is stacked.

• Every item gets a designated place in its zone.

• Don’t keep things for “someday.” If we hadn’t needed it in the last year, out it went. We just don’t have the luxury of hanging on to things for someday.

By strictly employing those rules, I was able to create enough room in the Room of Requirement for a small refrigerator, our two dog kennels, and a treadmill with a TV.

Since The Room of Requirement is part of the Mudroom and doesn’t have a door, this room also needed to have some Mid Century style. My husband devised a paneling scheme with simple birch plywood and a walnut detail at each seam. This warmed up the room significantly and was quite simple to install.

I chose the Sedona chrome bowtie light fixtures from Illuminate Vintage. With two bulbs, they immediately doubled the available light in the Room of Requirement which makes finding things a lot easier — even at night. One of the most important changes in this project was bringing more light — and better quality light — into this space. And these fixtures do that with some fun Mid Modern style, too.

And since this is the Room of Requirement, I added a sign to that effect. I made this using my Cricut, and I have a full tutorial for how to make this — or any sign using vinyl and a scrap of wood. In this case, it is made from a scrap of the plywood from the paneling.

This was a project done in fits and starts, and it is so nice to finally have this room done! It’s functional and filled with light — all with some Mid Century style.

My husband, Romano, deserves thanks and love. He is my carpenter and construction teacher. Every project we do is a partnership, and I’m always thankful to be working with him. And our child, Bambino, was a great help, too. He worked with me sorting, purging, and organizing not to mention dusting and cleaning. So truly this was a family affair, and I’m thankful to have two such capable partners.

And a big thank you to Emtek who gifted me with door hardware, hinges, and drawer pulls. I’m so thankful for your sponsorship!

To Linda Weinstein, the creator of the One Room Challenge, I offer my most sincere thanks. Thank you for offering this kind of opportunity and for opening it up to anyone. And to Better Homes and Gardens, the ORC media sponsor: thank you for making this possible! And to all of the other ORC participants: I’ll be sure to stop by to admire your work! It is always fun to do this together!

Thanks for following along!

Cheers!
Angela

Thanks to my sponsors for this project! Interested in being a sponsor? Let me know!

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@MidModernMama

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