planning our new mud room

mud room inspiration via Style at Home

For the past couple of weeks, we have been gathering bids for a new mud room. Currently, our washer and dryer are in our unfinished basement which has a very narrow stair and not the proper plumbing and electrical hook ups (meaning no functioning dryer). We plan to bring the units upstairs to a room that has its own entrance off the back of the house and is connected to the kitchen. We won't be able to do the whole mini reno at once but (I think) are pretty close to starting phase 1. This includes:

- Ripping out carpet
- Opening an existing wall to run plumbing and electric for washer and dryer plus a utility sink
- Closing wall back in
- Closing in a door that leads into our dining room
- Installing washer and dryer upstairs 

Its not a huge list but will most likely involve three days of work for a plumber, one day for the electrician and two days for a carpenter. We are still getting our heads around all that needs to be done by each trade and in what order (which once I do I will share here). We are, however, becoming more and more motivated as trying to get creative about where to hang our laundry is wearing on us. 

We want this room to be super functional and think it will add a lot to how we live in the house. The main components to the room will be:

- Washer and dryer
- Utility sink - which we will use a lot during all our other house projects and countless hours of painting
- Storage for coats and shoes - we don't currently have a true coat closet
- Dog area - a designated spot for Booker's kennel and accessories
- Office space - still working out the specifics of what I need for this area but basically just a desk area with a small amount of storage
- Catch all - a place for mail, keys, work and gym bags, cell phones etc. is key as I am a bit of an anti-clutter freak 

The collecting bids phase is not exactly a fun part of the process as it can be a pretty good reality check and rather time consuming. So to keep myself excited about the project I have been sketching and (obviously) searching Pinterest for inspiration spaces. We aren't doing any finishes in this phase of project (flooring, paint, cabinetry etc.) which is actually good as it limits the number of decisions that need to be made and buys me some time to figure out the look and feel of the space. I also need to take some time and draw out the space with exact dimensions so I can really understand how the space will work. I will be making this mini renovation into a series here on the blog so stay tuned for more inspiration images, drawings, lessons learned and home photos!