Week Two | May 13 | Paneling? Yep!
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.
For those of you who have been following along as I have done other One Room Challenge rooms, this next step will sound very familiar. If you are new here — first, welcome! — I am a devotee of the KonMari Method. And while generally you are supposed to KonMari your entire house at once (which I have done twice before), I also apply the same principles when decluttering and reorganizing a room. That’s where I began with the Mudroom project.
Step One: empty the whole room.
The Mudroom is an L-shaped space with two functions: the entryway and the storage room. We started with the storage part of the room. Once this is done, we will tackle the entryway, but the storage room is the really hard part, so that’s where we began.
A quick sketch — not to scale - - of the plans for the Mid Century Mudroom.
People! There was sooo much stuff in this room. And… I am embarrassed to admit this, but let’s be real: we had a mouse problem in this room last fall. So when it was time to empty everything, I also cleaned EVERYTHING again. We chose a pretty weekend a few weeks ago and pulled everything out of the room. Anything the mice had touched went outside to be evaluated and/or disinfected again. I cleaned the carpet and disinfected everything thoroughly.
Once the gross part was done, the KonMari-ing could begin.
I grouped like items together — cleaning supplies, Christmas decorations, Easter decorations, kitchen overflow. I took several carloads of items to be donated or properly recycled including several expired carseats, luggage, bags, and purses. Every single item was evaluated carefully, and we were ruthless about getting rid of things we haven’t used, don’t like, and don’t need.
The mess has taken over our living room and dining room, but it is important to have space where you can spread out and to keep things organized.
The empty storage part of the room — all clean and ready to begin!
Step Two: Install Paneling & Shelving
I took on the cleaning and sorting. And once the room was empty, my husband started on the exciting bits: installing the paneling and putting up the shelving.
Paneling, you ask? Yep! We are putting up Baltic Birch plywood on two walls for a little warmth and style — a modern take on a design detail that is right at home in our 1958 Atomic Ranch. At each seam we are putting in a small slice of walnut, too, as an accent. So far, it looks amazing! It’s a cheap, Mid Century touch that is bringing style to this small part of the room. Once we are done, I’ll create a project page tutorial showing exactly how to do this in case you are interested!
DIY paneling: we are using Baltic Birch plywood with a strip of walnut as an accent. I LOVE how it looks!
On the opposite wall, we started to install the shelving. I chose the Elfa shelving system from The Container Store. The entire system hangs from a top rail which makes it so easy to install and incredibly flexible, too. I used Elfa in my Workroom for the 2019 One Room Challenge, and given that I have LIVED in that room during the pandemic, I can tell you: it was absolutely the right choice! I am excited to use it here, too. However, I know that there is an IKEA system which is similar. If we lived closer to an IKEA, I would have been tempted to use that.
Elfa isn’t cheap, but every January The Container Store has a big Elfa sale. It is worth waiting for! That’s what I did. I bought it all in January. They have great curbside pickup service, but for this order it was all shipped directly to our house. Super easy!
The Elfa system is pretty easy to install, and we bought it during The Container Store’s annual Elfa sale — held every January. It’s worth waiting for the sale!
This isn’t a glamorous room by any stretch, but it is going to look so much better with a little warm wood and very tidy shelving installed. I’m excited to get it all done — and to get the stuff out of the living room, too!
You may notice that we aren’t painting in here. The paint was done 4 years ago, so it is still in fine shape. And it is one of the neutrals that run through the whole house. So painting this part of the room was unnecessary.
The Design Priorities
So where are we on the project plan? Well, I’ve distilled this project down to 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.
So far the paneling is a big part of the Mid Century Style — a little Scandinavian Modern in what is essentially a giant closet! But it’s a lot of bang for very few bucks. The Elfa shelving is bringing the Function and Storage in a big way. Next week I should be able to give you a tour of that storage in all of its multi-functional wonder!
The design boar for the Mid Modern Mudroom — ideas and aspirations for this critical room in our home!
Clean and crisp. White and wood. The Mid-Modern Mudroom Makeover will bring functional design and organization into one of the hardest-working rooms of our home. With a combination of vintage pieces, easy-to-clean fabrics, and storage solutions for every season, the result will be a mudroom that nods to our home’s Atomic Ranch roots while making space for our 21st century family.
Thanks for following along! I’m so excited for the next phase!
Cheers!
Angela
Thanks to my sponsors for this project! Interested in being a sponsor? Let me know!
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