"MVR" - Most Valuable Room

Winter is doing me in, completely!  I'm sure you feel the same.. (Except for my sister Amy who is currently living in Mexico. She always was the smarter sister!) 

 

Anyway, Evan and I keep saying how ABSOLUTELY THANKFUL we are that we have this mudroom. It looks pretty clean in this picture, but the floor is absolutely covered in salt, puddles, and paw prints. We are totally putting the "mud" in mudroom!

 

Overall this room is one of the things that sold us on our house. It is part of an addition that the previous owners constructed, and it is a God send! In houses like ours built in the early 1900s with detached garages, it is a super rare find and I'm so thankful we have this messy room as a dumping ground. Therefore, it wins my "Most Valuable Room" award :)

 

 

Now spring, hurry up and get here SOON!

Mudroom Makeover!!

My mudroom has been in desperate need of a makeover! When we moved in 3 months ago, this room featured cracked tile, beat up lockers, and dingy walls. However, it had a TON of potential! It's seriously one of the main things that set this house apart from the other ones we were looking at in the neighborhood. Most of the houses (since they were all built in the 1940s) have a door that goes immediately into the kitchen. (Our mudroom was an addition in the late 90's). Having a mudroom is HUGE! It just needs a little love :)

I started the makeover by painting the top half of the room in Martha Stewart's Falcon and by installing beadboard:

Now for the locker transformation! The orangey color was just NOT working for me at all. I decided to go with white to match the beadboard, door, and trim. Here it is after coat of primer #1:

And here it is after coat of primer #2:

(Note: I used Killz Premium Primer. It's amazing, but also STINKS! I had doors and windows open, a fan going, and I had to take a serious break during painting because the fumes!

I'm taking the next two days off, and #1 on my to-do list is to finish painting the lockers! I imagine it will take two coats of paint. I may do a layer of varnish too, but I'm scared to pieces of the varnish making the paint yellow. This project is the LAST project I want to have to do over again!

However, once it's painted the room is far from over! First, I want to add slate floors:

I got a sample of the Montauk Black state tile above from Build Direct, and I love it! BUT, the shipping is so expensive, so I'm going to try to find something local.

I also want to add the following accessories:

Restoration Hardware Vintage Barn Sconce in Slate Gray. I want this to hang above my calendar. I have daily system calendar from Pottery Barn, along with a mail organizer and bulletain board.

This collection is actually already hanging up in the mudroom, I just don't have a picture of it!

An indoor-outdoor rug. I love the Laney rug from Ballard Designs. Beautiful but durable!

A Roman Shade like this one I tagged on Pinterest. Lovvve it!

And a piece of artwork to the right of the door to tie the room together. Like this botanical pressing from Restoration Hardare.

At the end of the project, I think it will be the perfect place to track in my mud with my favorite Hunter wellies :)  I'll keep you posted on how the room is coming along!