Transform Your Mudroom

0:01That's the sound of zero sugar, 200 milligrams of caffeine and the power to burn body fat. Storm Energy for Life. Storm Energy Blend helps boost metabolism, which in combination with exercise and a healthy diet helps burn fat. This product alone does not produce weight loss. Individual results may vary. Girl, winter is so last season. And now spring's got you looking at pictures of tank tops with hungry eyes. Your algorithm is feeding you cutoffs. You're thirsty for the sun on your shoulders. That perfect hang-on-the-patio sundress. Those sandals you can wear all day and all night. And you've had enough of shopping from your couch.

0:35done hoping it looks anything like the picture when you tear open that envelope it's time for a little in-person spring treat it's time for a trip to ross work your magic hello everybody welcome to dear alice today we are talking about the mudroom oh man the hardest working girl in showbiz she is she is tired she is tired she is road hard and put away wet man she does the most work also a point about the mud hall is it's your entry It's how you come home. If you have a garage, you park that car in the garage, you come in that back door and you land yourself in what we call the mudroom. And we're going to be talking about that space today because it is so hardworking.

1:17We've done a lot of these spaces and we want to give you all of our best tricks, tips, advice, learnings from clients. And we're going to show you a few install shots we've done over the years to really make the mudroom a beautiful way for you to come home because most people don't get to come in their front door. entry every night yep and the common denominator is we're looking through all the mud rooms there are three things that every mud room must have we're going to take you through all those things and see how you can employ it and i think this is regardless of size yeah whether you're a small mud room or a big mud room you need to figure out how we can get all three of these things happening for your life to go smoothly let's tell them what they are okay you want to give it away just tell them all three okay fine storage we all need storage okay you need storage for shoes you need storage for backpacks you need storage for you know the mail where are you setting that down you need to have places that have a home otherwise they just get thrown on the kitchen island and then nobody knows where that flyer went yeah or that bill do you know what the irs notice It's not whatever it is.

2:23You need a mudroom. I think my kitchen island is the mud hall at my house. I don't know why we put so much mail on the kitchen island, but there really is. Like you need spots for this. Otherwise, you're going to be staring at it on your hardest working other surface, which is the kitchen island. So let's get it all at the back door and not bring it any further into the rest of the house. No, and then I'm going to one up it because you need storage, but then you have to create a system. Yes. We're not going to get into that, but I have had clients where we have brought in organizers. they're like so my kids they bring all these things and they still get a lot of papers this one needs to go in this file because that has to be signed by this person and anyway there really has to be like an intake and an outtake stuff that's coming in and stuff that you have to send them back out with you know if you have kids and I just think in general just all the things they land at that back door yeah you know for you to take with you the next day so you have to create a process in this med room so you have to give yourself an opportunity to have that storage to have that organization so storage is the first one the second one is seating we need seating yeah we need a place to sit down take off our shoes at the end of the day put on our shoes at the beginning of the day even just to set your backpack down on something to unzip it to pack that lunch to you know what I mean you just need to be able to have a surface to put that on otherwise mom is bending all the way over down to the floor or you're gonna crouch hidden tiger crouching dragon whatever that was called you gotta get in that stance and you gotta try and figure it out your knees are and your thighs are shaking and yeah just have have yourself something to put that back back down on i know because when i designed my house yeah we built someday i'm gonna have a one hell of a mud room because right now i am crouching tiger hidden dragon yes you are trying to put shoes on it's too much time it's too much it's a full body workout too much yeah i always tell my kids i can't help you if you're on the ground you need to get he need to go higher for me i'm gonna make a plaque i can't help you if you're on the ground get up okay so you need storage the third thing is just again that's a surface you have a surface in your mudroom you have this beautiful chest where you have a tray where you keep all your sunnies it's kind of like this last spot and remind yourself of the pretty yeah obviously you have to have a mirror yes of something and usually that sits above that surface if you don't have a mirror i cannot tell you how many times I would have buttoned my button on the wrong hole, left the house, and then greeted all my co-workers at work looking like a clown.

4:41Like you really do need that last look. Yeah, to get that, get that button on the right hole, to grab those sunglasses, grab the keys. And I always have, I have our little crystal penny lamp there and I leave it on all the time. I never turn it on. So it's like a nightlight to the mud hall. A friend. Yeah. And then if a kid comes home late, that's turned on, even though the rest of the house is turned off and it's a led bulb. So nothing's getting hot. Nothing's scary, but that's on all night long. So a mirror, a great surface to put all your sunnies and all of that. And I have drawers in my chest where I can put the mail.

5:16I can put the stamps. I can put the thank you notes. You can have organization and all of that, you know, can have a system. Like storage. Yeah. It's a tiny, tiny spot, but those are hard working little spaces that really pack a punch. Yeah. I love that. I'm going to say the seating and the surface need to be two separate things. Oh my gosh. I hate when all of just the stuff that needs to go out to the garage is just on the bench. I'm just like, and it feels like it's my chore. It's a war zone guys. This is a war zone. Those are two different heights. Seating of the bench is sitting at 18 inches high.

5:50The top of your chest is probably above 30 inches where you can use it to grab your sunglasses and whatnot. Yeah. There's nothing more aggravating than when you do need to sit down there's stuff all over that seating moment or okay i'm gonna take it one step further not in a mudroom when you're getting into the car and your husband or wife are sitting in the driver's seat and there's stuff on the seat that you have to get on to and i'm just like you couldn't have picked that up didn't move that don't worry you're sitting there i'll pick that up and put on the ground and then i'll put sit down anyway also say yeah keep the seat clear don't put yourself in a precarious situation guys save your marriage yes save your marriage I love it.

6:29Exactly. So you're going to be driving us through storage, surface and seating as a mud haul. Yes. And as I look through all these images, they all have those things. So we're going to show you how we did it in all these different situations. So our first stop is at Manchester. It's on our portfolio. And this is the one where our client, she grew up going to England. That's where her parents are from. And so this home feels very British. And so it was cool that she wanted to incorporate color in such a big, big way. and that this house because it had this aesthetic it was just geared towards that not necessarily a room for her kids with like plaques and things for their names on the lockers it is something that i think as you look at these pictures that is awesome for this stage and it's awesome for the next stage which i think is something that people really need to consider how will this the longevity of this space hold up am i time stamping it with this moment or is it something i'm gonna have to remodel in five years when everyone's out of the house.

7:22So here it is in Manchester. Here's the floor plan. Again, right here you can see we have the darling floor plan pattern. So don't forego that. That's not one of our points, but definitely put a tile if you can. But you can see we have these two runs of lockers that were mirroring each other. And then we ended up putting a center hall table with ottomans. And that's what becomes our ceiling and our surface when we show you the pictures. But one thing I just want to show you is on this elevation of the locker, This just shows the outside of the locker. One thing for storage is shoes. Some people will prefer like a cubby, actually an open spot for you to tuck your boots and things into an opening.

8:00And some clients will prefer to just have it in a drawer. Some clients say we're going to actually leave our shoes out in the garage and then we're going to come here and that's where I'm going to have my mittens and my hats and all those things. So you kind of have to understand what you need to store in which space. And so in here we actually have drawers underneath these lockers and lockers have little vent holes so that all those coats and smelly teenager stuff can air out gross we all i can smell it now it's disgusting but the interior is where this gets really exciting these are we have again mirroring elevations of lockers and this shows you how we space these out four of these were for all the kids their backpacks guys i know it sounds crazy but you if you're a designer you want to measure their backpacks their client specific backpacks so that you can get the exact size for this.

8:50You don't want to just grab that off the internet. They might have special ones for sports or whatever else. And so this is what's drawn in is the actual backpacks that her family used. Yeah, confirm that. For a child, they're just saying, you're always going to stick to this. And that way they know how to shop the next year and the next year and the next year because that's what fits in your locker. There's plenty of cubbies in here. There's hooks inside these lockers, which a hook will go so far in a mudroom. Kids are way more inclined to hang something on a hook than on a hanger. Yes, that is for sure.

9:18So same, I mean, it goes in bathrooms and everywhere. The hook is like the king. So you can see that we, on the interior elevations of these lockers, we have hooks, three in each cubby, you know, because they might have a hat, a coat, any of those things from their day that they can just park. Then you also have spots for extra shoes. We did do one that had actual hangers with little rods that you could hang and made those storage pieces deep enough to facilitate a hanger. So again, you know how you lift, so you know how you kind of have to build out this storage. There's just a lot of thought work that went from a lot of interviews from the client into this elevation.

9:52So make sure you do that, designers and homeowners. Just get curious and make sure your cabinet maker knows how to build out those lockers. It's a function the way you need them to. And then these tall cubbies are awesome just for like baskets of extra gloves, extra hats, extra, you know, whatever you need, sports stuff, whatever it is. If you have the height, use it. And did you end up doing the drawers in the bottom, Suze? Yeah, there's a big pull. And tell them what they like the drawers for at the bottom. Again, this is just for shoes. This is where people park shoes from their kids, flip-flops, soccer cleats.

10:23Whatever the season is, that's where they put those things. So you have kind of all your top layer, and then you have your shoes down below. Mom and dad know how your kids are going to react to storage systems, so you design accordingly, whether you're a cubby with just an opening or whether you're a drawer. Because some kids would see a drawer and be like, that's cute, but I'm never going to actually employ that. I think that's just important for you to know as you're creating these moments in your mudroom design it for them and so we're going to show you a few examples of ones with cubbies and ones with drawers and those were all really geared by the family they live there so but I just love how these turned out and I really and this was really lovely you could have done an island in here but I'm really glad that we got some furniture in the mudroom and I think that center hall table is such a moment aesthetically when you look in there you can see you have your dog leash and a bowl you have these two ottomans that can kind of like tuck underneath a table and not take up additional room to be tripped on by kids but this is where they can sit take off their boots put on their shoes whatever you need and that's your surface that again it's just a little bit more sculptural where you have so much utility happening in the frame of the room i like that too because it's less utilitarian than like an island would be so it kind of makes it feel more home especially yeah that's the room you're walking into every single day in 10 years she might pick up a table and she might be like this is my style this is a really easy way to switch up things when things are feeling you know stale or you're like I need something to like make me alive again in my house this is really easy when you furniture can do that you have your utility but make sure you leave some flexibility for great furniture so and our next one is our Lyndon Art Manor this one I think is a really I think one that most of us can relate to yeah where you do have just like one wall for storage.

12:11What are you going to do with that wall? And usually that wall, here you can see we actually need to be our seating and our storage. And here you can see we have cubbies, not drawers below because she has three boys. And she's like, yeah, they're not going to open up doors to put their shoes, but they're going to take them off. And then I can just tuck them underneath the bench. They can do that. Anyway, so for storage, she does have lockers for coats. She has cubbies up here where you can, or actual coverage where you can actually put baskets with all their, you know, hats, snow goggles, whatever it is happening up here.

12:40And then a decent amount of seating. With this cabinetry, same rule applies, take it to the ceiling. And I like right here, you just like furred down a soffit to bring that too, which is great. Which is smart. I think this is often a formula that people love, which is the bench and then the hooks above it. So you can easily see that the little guy could come sit down, pull on those winter boots, reach up, unhook his coat, grab his backpack out of the cupboard. So this storage is both open and closed. And you can see that the system of being open, there's organization to it because there's rows of hooks and there's a system underneath the bench where you could see that like each boy has his own little sort of cubby where each of his shoes could kind of line up.

13:22But at least the shoes aren't in the pathway where you're coming in the door. There's like a place for everything, everything in its place. Exactly. Yeah. And then she does have that moment where she has a furniture piece with two lamps on that she can just leave on again this is the entry that they're going to come in each night and be able to take off their outer layer and then just come on in and be at home yep one thing I am going to say on this one because she actually had another bench too that had no hooks above it was just a furniture piece that's not shown here that's really great this one if you only have room for a bench with hooks above it beware if that's your only seating people the hooks will overhaul your seating and then you're going to sit and you'd be pushed forward by all the jackets and things behind you so you do kind of have to understand your family see what alternate places there are to sit so that that doesn't become like your only spot when it's a really rushed morning and you're running out the door and you're like i can't even sit and put on my boots anymore because there's so much stuff behind me as you're designing your mudrooms just to make sure that the hooks might take over that bench if that's your only spot so yeah yep but I love this and again it has that same furniture rule where you have a piece that's a little bit more flexible to kind of evolve with you throughout the years so love that as soon as I get home from work I do this thing that I heard an expert say you have to go in and you have to change your clothes so that it signals to your brain I'm no longer working I put my phone down I charge it and I go in my closet and I slip on my brushed bamboo jogger set from cozy earth It's a costume change.

14:53It is. And it changes something in my brain. They're soft enough to sleep in, but they're put together enough that if I have to answer the door, I'm not going to be embarrassed. But I'm like in actual pajamas, you know? Yeah. Anyway, they are so soft. They're made from viscose from bamboo. They have this tapered fit with a relaxed waistband and just enough structure to feel intentional. I'm a huge fan. I just got them in the charcoal. I can't wait to see those. okay I do a little thing where I don't necessarily have time to change my whole outfit but boy do I take off my heels or my boots or whatever I'm wearing and the first thing I reach for is the lake house clogs I love these things because they're slip-on which is like an absolute must when you're running in and out of the house grabbing boys getting the mail I can wear these anywhere I can wear them around the house it has a cushioned footbed a soft interior and again they're easy to slip on which is everything I forget that I'm wearing them when I'm in the house but when the doorbell rings I can quickly go grab it or go to the grocery store and I still always look put together and uncomfortable.

15:56I love the lake house clog. I do too. I think they're really good looking and I think they look really cute under a pair of jeans. Nobody's going to think that you're wearing a slipper out because it's a clog. Exactly, exactly but they don't know that I'm actually wearing slippers because they feel so comfortable. Agreed. I feel like I need them in every color now that I have them. Me too. They're so good. Why the cozy earth stands out to me is it's the details, the fit, the fabric, the way these pieces are made to last. This isn't fast fashion for the house. It's something you'll actually be reaching for years from now.

16:27This spring, give yourself the kind of comfort that lives with you all day, not just the moment you get home. Head to CozyEarth.com, use our code DEARALICE for an exclusive 20 % off. That's code DEARALICE for an exclusive 20 % off. And if you get a post-purchase survey, mention that you heard about Cozy Earth right here. Okay, this one is from our Corner Canyon. This is another one that we felt like space that we all have in our home. Yeah, everybody's got this moment, or they at least have this amount of space in the back door for just a small little tiny run of lockers. And then you've got, she has cabinetry here instead of furniture with a nice beautiful stone top.

17:09You still got that lamp by the back window so you can have that moment. And then she has cubbies where she could put car keys, sunglasses, all of that. She's also got storage underneath that little built-in chest, if you will. And so she could have envelopes, extra stamps, you know, whatever she needs to be able to get out the door and stay organized. So I just felt like this was something we could relate to. The bench in this space right by that back door before she goes out to the garage. And then she's got her mirror above the bench so she can make sure she buttons her coat the right way. Yep.

17:40And it's the style points. This is like what makes it so her. Yes. So happy and individual. And this is a moment to have a lot of fun. Like you saw the first Manchester mud hall, which was magenta paint on the cabinetry. You can see here, we've got a magenta run of beautiful upholstery on this bench. And then the mirror brings some personality. So it doesn't have to be all utility, like Corey was saying about not using the island, that we can inject this sort of fashion points, personality points, because like we said, after all, this is your entry to the house. Okay. All right. Now we're going to go to our Odessa project.

18:14This is our Desert Oaks. And what's really fun about this home is that it has Western sole to it. They wear boots and like, we really were able to interview, like, what does that look like? She's like, well, I'll need a boot tray. Perfect. You have a boot tray. She's like, yep. And you have the things. And when you're wearing boots, it is, they're hard to get off. If you don't have one of those things that you hook your boot in and you pull your leg out. She has those and they're darling. And we're able to like help source those. Anyway, so I'm just like, you can get really specific in how you dress and what your demographic is.

18:43Paint the picture and teach people how to use this space when they come into your house, even in the back entry. So this was like a full hallway. This is their grip on the screen. We're looking at their floor plan. You come through their garage doors. There's this back stairwell, but then we just have these two lockers right here. And then this kind of cavity here for a chest. so that becomes your surface with a light you have your storage and then we parked at the end of the hallway we have a mirror with a little stool over here so again it's a little bit like more of a stretched out like mess hall but it's so cute and I just love the way it turned out here's the elevation of that one wall again you have the vented cupboards she she wants to just have it be pretty she's like just make sure that there's holes to vent their shoes but we're going to do drawers in this case for her kids she just has like one perfect girl one perfect boy This back hall entry is so common of the older traditional homes where you have a back stair hall, a back stairwell that takes you up.

19:37And most people wouldn't think to park a piece of furniture right there because you've got that sort of triangular shape of the stairs running up. But it really is so perfect. If you can see on your screen now, this is a sketch that Suze did, a little study. so you've got the full height of the lockers and then next to it graduated down is this furniture piece that's a chest and then you've got the lamp that you're going to leave on all night those drawers are going to be hard working whatever mom needs if it's you know driving gloves or you know stamps postage whatever it is i love you when driving gloves yeah so a category we all need to we all need to pull them into our wardrobe driving gloves cashmere scarves whatever it is that mom needs yeah but this is such a cute little vantage point to open up a door and see this you know i again most people wouldn't think to like have their eye land on a little piece they just let the stairs be there and nothing else but also again with that descent and that graduation just even having that little garden stool it has to be there you know it's so so cute okay question on the so go to that next slide with the face elevation of the if you weren't going to do drawers on the bottom there would you still and you were going to do a cubby yeah would you still segment that in four or like do it one maybe segment it in two or yeah how would you do that i'm like you could segment in two i think i like the divide keeping that yeah i like those verticals so i think i would pull that down again very minimum i would segment it i think structurally you would have to have two sections but i don't know i love the four i love the multiple it kind reads like a double armoire or something where he's going to have one half and then daughter's going to have the other.

21:14So I agree. I think the rhythm of four on the bottom feels really nice. Yeah. And they're a family of four. Again, we have this bank and then we have one exactly the same on the opposite side. So I think we employed the other side to have a plug in for their Dyson and like some of their cleaning stuff that they need back there. So again, storage, just whatever you need. Again, we're in West Texas. There's a lot of sand. And if you have a stick vacuum, I would say make sure your electrician puts that outlet, you know, four feet up the wall. So, so smart. So you don't have to run the cable down.

21:44So yeah. I have a sketch of that somewhere. Yeah. We've drawn that. So here is again, we wallpapered it because we could, and it was just the most darling, but this kind of shows you what that turned out. You guys, along with the boot tray and the cute little boot rack, whatever, she had grabbed this darling like run of hooks. That's also another thing too even if you aren't building your home right now there's things like this that you can put in your home to make it so charming and make it really utility and work for you and so we hooked that little cowboy hat right there this thing would be cool I swear at my house I think the mud hall a place for everything and everything in its place like even considering the dog leash that could have its own hook if everything has a place that's the goal of the mudroom is that you can go there and find it there every time because the kids know that's where the dog leash goes it's not that you're just going to throw it in a random drawer or in a random locker that you create a full working system as beautifully as possible for this backhaul but everybody knows that the cowboy hats are going to go on this rack you know so i'm sure everybody listening out there about your mud haul you could probably get more hooks you could probably go get a lamp right and do something charming that you can leave it on you could probably add a mirror if you don't currently have one.

22:58There's so many things we could currently do to just up level what's there. I'm looking at this thinking I could definitely use more hooks, you know, even one for the outgoing dry cleaning or incoming, you know, otherwise it's just over my railing because there's not a place for it. In the back of doors, you can do things like you can put drawing mirrors on the back of doors or a hook or something. Give yourself some more help. So I love that. Here are a couple of videos that I just, there was such a charm. This was probably the last space that we kind of really installed in the house. We can see like the darling railing.

23:28There wasn't a lot of it, but we're like, we should do something really fun. So we did this tulip railing, that beautiful chest that we found this rug that had these horses on it, which is so, so neat. The video shows that the graduation of the garden stool and they'll go over there talking to the rug. This cabinetry that just looks like bath water. I don't think I would ever, ever tire of that color. I'll show you one more too that shows you the mirror at the end of the hallway with that, there's this darling little orange bench. like a little ottoman yeah it's so good that concludes the three things that every mudroom needs which is storage seating and a surface not to mention a mirror so you don't get your buttons wrong yeah yeah so good guys i hope this helps as you're planning your mudroom looking to up level your mudroom if you're going through a remodel or a new build you can really consider the systems and get everything behind that closed storage or do half and half like we showed you i think a lot of these are great examples of what's possible.

24:24I hope that helps. I want to quickly tell you guys, we have a fantastic program for you. If you are in the market for furniture, we have a free furniture design service called Home Furnishing Design, and there are designers on standby that know the entire Alice Lane Rolodex, all the vendors we use, plus our own product, and they are on standby to help you with your space. They're going to get it in an AutoCAD. They're going to space plan it all really beautifully, interview you about how you want to live, what your style is, get all of your images, and they're going to create a beautiful space for you.

24:55And it's complimentary. So your entire budget can go towards furniture. So if you want to get started, you're going to go to our design services tab, right, Corey? Yep. And then go down to home furnishing design. And then another thing to add that as we've been doing, we rolled out our like customization programs. We've been doing, we've been customizing rugs, whether that be size or color, even material. We've been doing it with case goods and upholstery. So that's been something that has really just kind of been taking off and it's been great. So there's so many people's rooms that the average size rugs aren't going to work perfectly for.

25:29And you're like, gosh, a 10 by 14 isn't going to work because the 14 is too long. We could make a 10 by 10 rug. And all of the home furnishing designers know how to adjust these drawings, use Corey and his team to be able to have these things hand knotted for you. And we can even choose custom palm colors. You're like, I love that rug. I love the Sussex rug, but I wish it was green. We can do that. So the ability to customize anything and to design a full room would usually cost you a lot of money in design services. And we have this whole team that's just dedicated to helping you with furniture.

26:00So again, that's called home furnishing design. Go to the tab, the design services tab, scroll down. Yep. So alicelanehome.com, design services tab, and then go to home furnishing design, fill out that form. And one of our designers will get back to you in 24 hours. It's usually like within less than an hour. So you'll be able to get started right away. I can't wait for you guys. Yep. And then also follow us on Instagram. The store site is at Alice Lane Home and the interiors is at Alice Lane Interiors. That will just take you behind the scenes of like projects and product launches and more. And if you have any questions for us on Dear Alice, send those to dearalice at alicelanehome.com.

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