Hang Up Your Coat, Powder Your Nose
Alrighty, alrighty, alrighty, are we excited to move beyond the kitchen or what?!? I'm not really. I love kitchens. The last post was Kitchen Option Five though, and that is a lot! We're not moving too far away, today we're taking a look at the powder room and mudroom right down the hall. Don't worry, only one option (sort of) to review for these areas. Before we jump into it, here is the renovation plan for the space if you would like to take a look at that first.
I am a big fan of mudrooms. Our house in Baltimore had a Butler's Pantry that doubled as a mudroom by default because that is where the back door was. Our houses One, Two, and Four had not a mudroom among them. Our house in Holland so far is the only house that has had a dedicated mudroom and it was, in my opinion, a luxury to have one. It led to the garage through a breezeway so coats, backpacks, hats and shoes were easy to stow and grab on your way in and out. Another added bonus was being able to leave the dog in the breezeway and then eventually in the mudroom so he could dry off and/or be cleaned up before he entered the rest of the house as needed. The mudroom helped control dirt and clutter and that is something I for sure want in this house too.
What will become the dedicated mudroom is currently the laundry room and de facto mudroom in this house. In addition to the machinery, there are some hooks in there and a basket for shoes. It doesn't control clutter so much as look cluttered. All that is going to change though!
We do not have much existing to work with, we have this rug that I purchased for our mudroom in Holland:
This rug is almost the full length of the space and if I can find a vintage runner that it not quite as long, like the one in the mood board, I would really prefer to use that instead. I sold a lot of our vintage runners when we moved here, perhaps that was a mistake.
And we have this basket that we have been using for toys or shoes, depending on the house, for twenty years:
I am not sure if the shoe basket will fit in the mudroom. It is sentimental to me, no shock there. It is another piece in our house that I asked to buy even though it wasn't technically for sale. It was full of fabric remnants at one of my favorite stores in Washington, D.C. and when I asked to buy it the sales person said, "are you sure, Kerry, it's not in very good shape?" I was sure. I thought it would be great for toys in the playroom and it was. The dividers are held together by zip ties now but that's neither here nor there. If I can fit in the mudroom without being too obtrusive I will! I need to measure and get a feel for it once the room is demoed. We are removing the doorway between the current laundry room and the hall that leads to the powder room and kitchen and the basket would need to straddle that area a bit. We'll see, fingers crossed.
Here are the basic elements of the decor plan for the mudroom and powder room:
Herringbone brick floors throughout the spaces (John's choice)
Floor to ceiling storage on one wall of the mudroom
Paneling/wainscoting on remaining walls in mudroom
New (mostly) glass door to the outside from the mudroom
Wallpaper in the powder room
New console sink and toilet in powder room
Plantation shutters on the new powder room window
The architect plans currently call for the wall opposite the shoe basket in the picture above (where the washer and dryer are currently) to have two storage cabinets/closets on either side and a bench in the middle with cabinets above the bench only. The architect worried that if we had cabinets to the ceiling straight across the wall it would feel too heavy. I have stood in there many times and visualized cabinets going to the ceiling and I do not think it will be too heavy. Taking it a step further, I have also decided that I want a full wall of floor to ceiling cabinets/closets and to forgo the bench. In the renovation we will be removing the front hall closet to gain that space for bookshelves in the library and removing the bizarre triangle closet in the hallway leading from the powder room to the kitchen to square off the entrance to the kitchen. I know we would benefit from as much storage space as possible in the mudroom. It is a small space, I'm fairly (dare I say completely) confident it will be just fine though. To make up for the loss of the built in bench I want to put a small, narrow, vintage bench across from the closets as a quick landing spot for your bottom as you tie your shoes rather than a place to sit, sit.
I found these benches online:
I love either one of these or something very similar. They are narrow, fulfill the purpose as a quick landing spot for your toosh, and have character. I told John I want to put an offer on the top one and he said "it looks like it will fall right over". Please! Our form over function battle rages on. Trust my vision sir!
The mudroom is where I will get my navy cabinetry (that I long for in the kitchen). The plan is to use Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore on the closets/cabinetry and then the mudroom will bookend/mirror the Circle Room. The wainscoting will be white to match the trim throughout the house, something like Decorator's White by Benjamin Moore in an enamel like finish to hold up to the wear and tear of a mudroom. The wall space above would match the Swiss Coffee like color that will be throughout the main, connected spaces on the first floor.
For the powder room, I really want to use a statement wallpaper. Chrysanthemum in blue by Schumacher is on the mood board. There are so many amazing wallpapers out there so not sure if this is ultimately what we'll end up with. I have always wanted to have a powder room with red chinoiserie themed wallpaper, like this in a powder room, so we'll see. Maybe one wallpaper in the powder room and one in the mudroom. You see, I could have multiple options for every space, I need to rein myself in!
I also want to have a plantation shutter as the window treatment in the powder room. As much as I love mixing pretty fabrics and wallpaper, I think it is much more "user friendly" to have a window treatment that easily closes in the bathroom, privacy and all, you know?! For the sink, I want to have a console that includes a built in backsplash. Our last two powder rooms have had pedestal sinks without back splashes and this setup is unkind to the painted wall behind the sink. I told myself going forward that I want some type of backsplash in the powder room. Since the sink will not be nestled between walls we cannot add a uniform backsplash above the counter and I do not want to tile the entire wall. Having wainscoting to match the mudroom and wallpaper above is an option and then I would not need the backsplash. In the meantime while that thought is bouncing around my head (yet another option), I found this sink on Amazon that I really like:
Here are some pretty powder rooms with fabulous wallpapers to draw inspiration from....
And now for some mudroom inspiration!
Ending on a bang (not in a pretty way), here are the redlined (by me) plans. First the closet wall:
And then the floorplan:
Next time we will talk about the dining room and then we'll be done with the decorating plans for the first floor. Thank you for checking in today and taking a look at the mudroom and powder room plans. See you next time!
I appreciate you being here today,
Kerry
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