Let's Create a Mud Room!

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I chose to use the word Create as opposed to Build because our mudroom was originally an extension of our downstairs family room. So, technically, I didn’t need to ‘build’ one, just ‘create’ one in the existing space. Although….there was some building involved.

You may have read in some of my other posts that our house is a split level. We have two living room areas. The living room downstairs was 24 1/2′ x 14′ and contained the entry door from the garage. In my post about the garage entryway, I explain that this is our main access into the house so we use it a lot!

When we moved into the house, there was a 4′ x 4′ piece of vinyl as an ‘entry’ floor as you entered the house from the garage. In the pictures below, you can see the size of the flooring on the inside of the door from the garage and also the location of the door to the garage behind the couch. The couch served as a divider between a living room area and a sewing room area.

It felt awkward to have the entry from the garage just ‘dump’ us right into the family room. So, after awhile, I started researching how to make it feel like an actual entryway. I looked for ideas for maybe a half wall or privacy screen. While doing my research, I had a flash of inspiration hit me. Have you ever had the experience of a flash of inspiration? I can only recall a time or two in my life when that has happened. Well, this flash happened one day as I was walking into the house from the garage. As I opened the door and stepped into the family room, I clearly saw a wall to my left. It was the weirdest sensation. I thought ‘oh, we can build a wall and create a mudroom here!!!!’ Yes! That was it! I measured out a space on the floor to see how wide I wanted the mud room to be and 5′ 6″ looked like it would work well because that would be large enough to move furniture in and out of the garage if/when needed.

Panorama of the family room before the mud room

Since I’m not a Contractor, I immediately called my Contractor guys to ask them to come over to let me know if they could build a wall and, if so, give me an estimate of the cost. John & James came over a few days later and said it was totally possible to build a wall. We discussed what type of entry we wanted to create in the wall to get from a new mud room into the family room as a wall would block the light from the window. We bounced between leaving an opening in the wall or adding a door. I wasn’t keen on an opening because I wanted to be able to close off the mud room from the family room. A standard door would be too small to easily move furniture through so we decided on a pair of French doors! They would allow light to shine through from the window and also create a barrier to the mud room and living space. My Contractors quoted a reasonable price and we scheduled a start date! So exciting!!!

While waiting for the project start date, I began shopping around for tile to use in the mud room….no more carpet in that area! A friend of mine told me that Costco had 18″ x 18″ Travertine tile and that the price was really good. I measured how much I would need then bought the tile. When I got home, I laid the tile on the floor in the soon-to-be mud room space to get a visual of the size. I wanted to make sure it was going to be large enough before the wall went up.

Before John & James came to build the wall, I moved all the furniture from the space into the main family room area so they would have working room.

The first step they took was to lift the carpet to expose the cement floor. After bolting the bottom board into the cement floor and another board along the ceiling, they quickly built the frame to the wall.

Building the framing

Once that was done, we discussed adding lights on the family room side because the light for that area of the room was now in the mud room. I called my Electrician, Dan, (who is a neighbor) and scheduled an appointment with him to wire the wall for two sconce lights – one on either side of the opening. When Dan arrived, he also suggested we add outlets so he installed two in either side of the wall.

After the wiring was complete, it was time to install the drywall & insulation and tape the seams. I planned to do the mudding to match the texture I had applied to the walls when I painted the room so John & James left that task to me.

Installing Drywall & Insulation

Once the wall was complete, John & James installed the French doors and added a handle. We didn’t need the doors to lock, just needed a handle to open and close them. Since this project was being done in February & cold in the garage, I had decided I would stain and poly the doors once they were installed in the warmth of the house.

Installation of French Doors

Now that the wall was done and the doors installed, my portion of the project started. I added wall texture using a 4″ wide plastic putty knife to apply the texture to all of the new drywall in a similar fashion to frosting a cake. After allowing the texture to dry I applied a base coat of paint then the faux finish to match the existing walls.

Faux painting

With the walls now painted, I stained the French doors. I used painters tape along all the glass panes – this part of the process took the most time. Using a small artist brush for the wood around each pane, I painted on the stain and lightly wiped the area with a soft rag. For the main part of the doors, I applied the stain with the rag. The following day, I applied two coats of water based polyurethane, letting the first coat dry thoroughly before applying coat #2.

Tiling

The next step in the mud room project was to tile the floor. Since the floor was concrete, I didn’t have to add a subfloor and this tiling process went smoothly. The ‘not fun part’ was cutting the tile. The tile saw was in the garage and, like I said, it was February – in North Idaho! I ended up wet each time I cut the tile so it was really cold! On the plus side, none of the tile broke and the floor is beautiful!

Finishing steps

To complete the mud room project, I bought a couple of pieces of furniture, one new, one used. To store jackets and craft supplies, I bought a cabinet – one that you have to put together. It was white so I painted it brown. It took two coats. After the paint was dry, I assembled the cabinet and moved it into the new space. For a place to store gloves, hats, scarves & shoes, I found a bench at a thrift shop. I painted that green and made a cushion for the seat. I then bought baskets to hold the warm stuff. The shelf under the bench holds shoes.

The heater vent in the mud room keeps it very toasty.

To replace the vent that was now in the mud room, my Contractors added another vent in the family room. Since the ducting runs along the ceiling as was easily accessible, it was a quick job for them.

Who knew how wonderful it is to have a mud room? I don’t miss walking from the garage right into the family room! Having the mud room also keeps the area warmer.

I’m excited to share more projects with you as well as tips/tricks/freebies! Just enter your email below to be one of my Blog Peeps!