The colder it gets, the snowier it gets. The snowier it gets, the wetter the soil is outside. And as people who live in cold-weather climates know, wet, muddy boots can create chaos in your home. Even in a no-shoe household, leaving boots by the doormat may keep people from tracking outside weather inside, but it also ends up being an easy way to trip over shoes. This is one of many reasons to have a mudroom. It’s both functional for messy items and out of the way enough to avoid accidents. But just because it’s a mudroom doesn’t mean it can’t be stylish too. Here are a few mudroom ideas to bring new life to your space.

Mudroom Basics: What Is It? What’s In It?

A mudroom is a room in part of a house that is specifically designed for taking off dirty or wet footwear, as well as messy clothing. Typically located near the kitchen or in the basement, the floors in this room are usually cement or other weatherproof flooring. This makes it easier to sweep and mop as needed. If not cement, other flooring options may be solid hardwood, natural stone or brick tiles. It is not a good idea to have laminate floors in your mudroom, mainly because when wood plates get wet, it may expand and swell. Although it will eventually dry, it never returns to its original state. More often than not, this will also loosen laminate sheets, which can create gaps.

A mudroom also usually includes hooks and hangers for coats. It doesn’t necessarily have to include a coat closet, but that helps for organization. However, if it doesn’t, there should be a coat rack or wall hooks to avoid dumping clothing on the floor. Hooks for caps and hats may also work, but shelves do too. Once these functional necessities are met, then style kicks in.

Combining Style and Function In Your Mudroom

Although it’s easy enough to just leave shoes in the middle of the mudroom floor, having a shoe rack or bench is much neater. You can either leave shoes on a nearby doormat until the bottom areas dry and then move them to the bench. Or, choose a durable bench where wet boots and shoes can air dry on their own.

Having a mudroom cubby will come in handy for last-minute errands too, such as taking the dog out for a quick pee break. No one wants to have to put on and tie winter boots for a two-minute visit outside. For shoes that are rarely worn but are pulled out enough that they shouldn’t still be in a shoebox, this is another reason to take advantage of cubbies. The cubby hole doesn’t have to be a boring wood. You can also sand and paint it whatever color you like. Spin the color psychology wheel and have at it, wallpaper included.

Then there’s the bench. No matter how agile you are, after a full day, sometimes people just want to sit down. Whether that’s on a wooden bench, a couple of fold-out chairs or a firmer seat, have somewhere to property take off shoes or more-involved clothing.

While sitting down to remove shoes, the lighting doesn’t have to be bright enough to read. A soft glow is just fine. Mudrooms aren’t hangout spots. The goal is to get rid of messy clothes and keep moving into the house. You may even want to use motion detector lights for late-night stops to grab a package from the porch or an emergency stop for that dog. (Every pet owner has experienced having to wake up in the middle of the night for a dog who ate something off the ground and now your REM sleep is paying for their mistake.)

Plumbing Is Optional In a Mudroom

Whether you do it now or later, pulling off muddy boots or a coat with debris on it should make you want to wash your hands. Even outside of winter season, pulling off dirty sports uniforms or school clothes are yet another reason to clean up before flopping on the couch. Although mudrooms are not required to have sinks, it’d be great if the room did. Otherwise, keep a few handy items on a nearby shelf or table the size of a night stand (or bigger): antibacterial ointment, hand wipes and lotion. Microfiber clothes in a woven square or circle basket are also a nice touch to keep things sanitary.

Add Value to the Home With the Mudroom

In addition to a mudroom coming in handy for the people who live in the house, adding a mudroom to the home adds an extra layer when it comes to the day you potentially sell your place. Building a mudroom addition to the house could cost anywhere from $6,500 to $18,000, which can seem pretty steep. However, once it’s there, then it’s an attractive selling point to potential buyers too.