Mudroom Bliss – Organize for the Start of the School

Notebooks, sport bags, and backpacks – oh my!

If it were up to me, September 1st would be the official start of the New Year.  I feel energized to clear up and clean out the old and revisit areas of my house that enjoyed a lazy summer and need to be assessed and organized.

While the kitchen is the heart of any home, it’s my mudroom that works the hardest.  A few years ago, we bumped the small first floor laundry room out into the garage and made room for a mudroom that I designed to include all the bells and whistles.

Here a few design ideas for your mudroom:

 
Filing drawer – this hard working space allows me to wrangle all the papers and art from school, keep my volunteer committments in one place and organize my travel information. 

Bulletin board – for permission slips, field trip notices and recital tickets.  Even though most “school papers” are delivered through email, I still need a place for errant papers and a magnetic board, like this, does the trick.

Sturdy initial hooks for backpacks.  I like these from Anthropologie.

Hooks and baskets – filled with seasonal coats and accessories, the off-season pieces are tucked away in the attic in plastic tote bins.

“Charging” drawers – seven years ago this was a unique idea.  I placed outlets in each of our cubby drawers for cell phones.  Now we mostly use them to charge our ipads.

No mudroom, no problem. 

If space or budget don’t allow for a separate mudroom, consider carving out some room in your front hall closet for a filing cabinet and some baskets.  Place a 4-drawer filing cabinet in the middle of a double door hall closet and use one or two of the drawers for paper organization and the other drawers for seasonal hats, small sports equipment, the dogs’ leash and monthly flea and tick meds or, if you have small children, their shoes.  Just be sure to line the bottom drawer with small stones to catch the dirt.  Place a few baskets on the shelf above the coat rod for seasonal accessories. 

Do you come in through the garage?  Consider placing an armoire or dresser near this door as a catch all for papers, backpacks, and the like.  Adding a few wire  baskets to a dresser drawer or linen-wrapped boxes to the armoire will stop school papers from taking over other areas of your home.   Likewise, you could use a slender bench with baskets.

A little organization for your mudroom and a reminder to your kids and spouse of the virtues of a tidy space, and you will be ready to go as the fall calendar fills up.

Holly Joe is the owner of Holly Joe Interiors, LLC, a full-service design company located in Westwood, MA.  To see a sampling of her work, please visit  www.hollyjoeinteriors.com.    Coming soon – Holly’s blog piled high with design and lifestyle ideas.