A better way to approach it is to post a picture of your REAL (messy) mudroom! and have Houzzers make ignorant suggestions on how they would change your mudroom if it were theirs and perhaps work for you.

An even better way is to hire a professional that can find out your needs and wants, measure the existing space and spaces around it, and develop a plan with you.

Or rent a flame thrower and burn everything that is not put away in the mudroom each week.

Other people's pictures is not you or your space.

Yes, I’m aware. I also anticipated these types of comments, which is why I included the last paragraph. I’m asking for real examples because I want to get a sense of how lived in mudrooms look when they’re not Pinterest-perfect. If you have one, please share!

It doesn’t take much imagination to guess what ” lived in mudrooms look when they’re not Pinterest-perfect.” Mudrooms get, well…muddy, and messy…especially if your kids (or spouse) play sports or, if the DH does any yard work. Some kids will be diligent about using cubbies, but many will not. Most probably, if the cubbies are open, they’re more likely to get used.

You should know your children…are they trainable? Will they take the time to remove the mud from their sneaker treads, before entering the mudroom? Will your husband? Are they every time, going to take the time to neatly put lacrosse sticks, cleats, baseball goves, hockey sticks, or whatever, inside the lockers? Will it get under your skin, if it turns out you’ll have to constantly remind them?

Here's mine. We opted for lockers because I don't want to see the mess. Sometimes the rug has shoes all over it but at least the coats and bags are all behind doors. This cost $800 at home Depot.

And yes, I know the color doesn't match but it looks better in person and the cost difference was no comparison (the custom built in of the same thing was $3500).

Not sure if the smell remark was directed towards my lockers or mudrooms in general but there's no smell in ours. Maybe because I don't have teenage hockey players that put their smelly gear in them. Generally our jackets and purses/backpacks don't smell. Ymmv I guess.

@anj_p, I understood @fissfisses statement to be a general one…not directed at you.

Our son was never into team sports, just track…so no smelly equipment to organize. However, for several years, our nephew from Chicago spent summers with us on Long Island. He came to attend daily lacrosse camp.

The bus would drop him off at the end of the day. After the first day of having his sweaty equipment…including pads, shirt, sticks, shoes, socks, and a backpack in our laundry/mudroom, he was ”encouraged” to leave it all in the garage the following day. Lol…Oh, the smells…let’s just say, it was a bit overwhelming…

I don’t have a mud room, but if I did it would be full of shoes since they would most likely never make it back to the closet!

And, yes, my comment about odor was a general one, not directed at you specifically….I had girls, who were swimmers, so only a slight eau de chlorine in our mudroom…then we inherited a 19 year old nephew…skiing every weekend at our place, living in a frat at college…OMG….a perfectly innocent looking pair of sneakers can do unspeakable things to a mudroom!

Without a lot of harassment, my family members would likely just dump their belongings in front of the locker rather than taking the time for opening and closing the doors. Lots of ADHD here. What do you think your family will do?

Yep & yep!

here ours. thank goodness the door you see at far end is another closet, lol

The OP requested pics of “REAL messy mudrooms.” The three examples shown by @anj_p, @sarahsaccount24, and @Suzanne Moesle…are too tidy! 😆😆

wah ha ha… closet door is closed for good reason!! lol

@darbuka maybe I shoudl open the doors? LOL. That's why there ARE doors! Ha. To be fair, our mudroom is also a hallway to our powder room so if we don't keep it relatively neat we'll be tripping over all of the stuff. When I had a mudroom like suzanne's, even WITH an adjacent closet, my hooks were FULL of jackets and bags. Definitely not tidy.

It’s just me and my husband, our daughter when she’s home from college, so when too many jackets are accumulating I can move them into closet out of sight. DH is probably the biggest mess maker, but he’s been on good behavior since we moved into new house. will update in six months, lol

@anj_p, our mudroom…which doubles as the laundry room, is also a narrow hallway leading to the powder room. The washer and dryer are stacked, tucked into the corner, outside of the powder room. The rest of the narrow area, has upper cabinets, granite counter below, and lower cabs…plus a ceiling height storage cab beside that. The cabinetry serves as overflow pantry. The cabs are IKEA, which our son put together and installed. All is on one side of the narrow space.

We keep a laundry basket on top of the counter, where all dirty clothes go…waiting for sorting and washing.

There was no way DH…or our son (long out of the house and on his own), when he comes to visit, would ever have used used anything as orderly as cubbies! Why torture myself? Besides, storage for bulk shopping from BJ’s (like Costco), was far more important.

I’m still working on mine… it needs hooks and baskets in the cubbies

Here’s ours. As is, right now. In all it’s glory. We have three kids and a dog.

We have what I would call a mud hall/laundry. We are a working farm with 2 dogs and the occasional bottle lamb.