Mudroom Inspiration

Fun fact. When you go almost four months without uploading any pictures from your phone to your computer, sometimes you end up with over 3400 of them to deal with at the same time-- which is both scary and impressive to me. I'm not sure if it's better or worse that many of them exist because I tend to take 100 pictures in 30 seconds when it comes to the kids, but then don't delete the 99 of them that didn't make the cut. But I digress.

We [mostly] finished the fireplace, though it could still use one more coat of paint. We recently discovered an excellent self-leveling paint  that's designed for use on cabinets and doors, and it would  be awesome on something like our fireplace surround as well. That being said, it's done for now, and I've been taking full advantage of it. See examples A, B and C below.

We planned on executing a quick build on our mudroom area after we moved in, since we also opted to take it over from the builders when we couldn't decide exactly what we needed out of it, but instead we designed a temporary solution by way of removable hooks and a bench that only barely improved the space and lasted a full eight months before we did anything else.

Unlike the fireplace, which we thought about for a long time but then designed quickly and built much more slowly, the mudroom took much longer to conceive but ultimately was simpler to build. We wanted a decent sized bench and some open cabinet space for shoes and outdoors accessories, but also a good amount of concealed storage for things like Nate's camera and lenses, seasonal gear, etc..

White paint and open cabinets

White paint with stained wood bench

Our space was a little weird due to the strange angle of the wall at one end, so we debated closing it in or concealing it, but ultimately went for the most storage possible and discovered that these odd little cubbies hold more than you'd expect. 

Now that construction is [mostly] completed, we've moved on to a search for some attractive, functional baskets that we can keep in the open cubbies for each person in our family. I have searched high and low but a few things have become evident in my search. 

1. Stores that I typically love like Home Goods and Marshalls usually have one or two cute wire baskets, but it's rare and in this case, I have not been able to find a set of 4-6 matching baskets.

2. Baskets are freaking expensive.

Thus, I've ended up online. I kind of hate ordering something like this that I know will be a pain in the butt to return if it doesn't work, but you can't beat the price and Amazon Prime is my bae. That is, incidentally, the first time I've ever personally used the term "bae." 

1. The Lucky Clover Basket

I love the simple and imperfect wiring in this basket, and I like the dark finish as well. It also seems convenient to choose a basket that has designated openings to grab it down from the cubbies.

2. Spectrum Diversified Basket

I like the real handles on this basket, which make it feel more portable, like something that I can pull out of a cubby and into the garage or a different room.

3. Spectrum Diversified Basket with label

No handles on this basket, but I love the black finish and the playfulness in the wiring. I also think it could be super convenient to have a built-in option for labeling each person's basket, though I'm not sure we could actually fit 5 or 6 of it in our open cubbies. 

We've ordered baskets and attached the final piece of trim to the built-ins, so we're definitely into the home stretch. "After" pictures to come soon!

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