Mudrooms for Horse People

[Kodidog763]

I’m so envious of all of your mudrooms!

Our next house WILL have a mudroom. Right now, we enter through the front door which opens to the main living area of the house. All of the horse dirt, my DH’s construction dirt, salt (snow removal business in the winter), gravel driveway dirt, etc comes in that front door and on to my beautiful hardwood floors. The dogs (all six of them) go in/out the patio door of our family room. All of their mud/dirt/snow comes into my family room carpet. I hate it!

Last year when we thought we were buying another property and building a new house, I had started trying to design the “perfect” mudroom. I wanted something that will be OUR (not for guests) main entry when coming in from the barn, DH’s shop, and for the dogs. I wanted it have a shower/bathing station for the dogs, hooks for work clothing, cabinets for all the gear/tools that DH might bring in with him. I wanted it to connect with both the kitchen and the master bedroom (so when DH comes in really dirty, he can just leave the dirty clothes in the mudroom and head straight in the master bathroom for a shower).

Dreaming of mudrooms. :lol:

[poltroon]

Kodidog763, in the meantime, it sounds like you would benefit from one of these:

Waterhog mats at LLBean

Other people sell them too. Lots of colors, patterns, and sizes. They look really good, can be vacuumed or hosed down, and do a really good job of catching mud and water.

[Ceylon_Star]

Totally off topic, but Everytime I see the title of the thread, I immediately read it as “MUSHROOMS for horse people”

[StarPattern]

When SO and I were looking at houses, we walked into one and found ourselves in a mudroom/storage room. The way it was set up was genius… to the left was a nice open area with coat hooks and a bench. To the right was a room with a door and some built in shelves. I immediately said to SO, “the dog kennels will fit great in there! And I can put all their stuff on the shelf, away from them!” It actually sold the house for me. The door makes it possible for me to completely shelter my timid dog away from people and keep his mind from being blown by strange noises.

SO looked at the entire house. I stopped looking after I saw the mud room and realized I could convert half the garage into a barn. Priorities.

[Kodidog763]

Kodidog763, in the meantime, it sounds like you would benefit from one of these:

Waterhog mats at LLBean

Other people sell them too. Lots of colors, patterns, and sizes. They look really good, can be vacuumed or hosed down, and do a really good job of catching mud and water.

Oh! These look great! I may have to order one. Every entry mat I’ve tried, seems to be lacking! Thanks!

[ladymcts]

This almost perfectly describes my dream mud-room.

[NoSuchPerson]

I have three of the waterhog mats and I LOVE them.

[Lucassb]

My favorite: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/126171227032305347/

[S1969]

[QUOTE=poltroon;9024384]
Kodidog763, in the meantime, it sounds like you would benefit from one of these:

Waterhog mats at LLBean

Other people sell them too. Lots of colors, patterns, and sizes. They look really good, can be vacuumed or hosed down, and do a really good job of catching mud and water.[/QUOTE]

I thought about getting a mat like this for my mudroom, but in the end I decided on an outdoor carpet - like the kind people put on their patios or deck in the summer. They are super light and waterproof, so it’s really easy to pull it out, hose it off, and let it dry. Then vacuum and mop the floor underneath.

Obviously if you’re talking a LOT of water, it might not be the right choice because the floor underneath will get wet. But my issue is usually more mud than water.

I made my decision when I dragged the old mat outside and tried to “beat” it clean - I think I beat it for half an hour and dust was still coming out of it…and I decided the better solution is one that won’t permanently trap the mud.

[poltroon]

I hose my waterhog mats down every few months… basically whenever the sun comes out and I have some time. Usually my pickup truck bed gets pressed into service. But for my uses, which are not tucked away in the mudroom, I also like that they’re fairly attractive visually.

[Scribbler]

My parents house had front door, back door, and basement door entering off the carport. The first thing inside the basement door is the “unfinished” laundry room/ furnace/freezer room. When I was a teen, many nights in winter I came home from the barn, called up to my mom to toss me down some clean clothes, and just left all my barn clothes in the laundry room. Something like this still strikes me as ideal. And as an adult, I’d be organized enough to leave the change of clothes in the laundry room on my way out!

Now I live in a condo with one front door, and I track barn mess everywhere.

[SugarCubes]

We built our house and a mudroom was a big priority being a horse property. Both the garage, and the side door enter into the mudroom. There is a large coat closet on one wall, and another wall with hooks and shelves.

My favorite feature is a custom half-pocket door with wrought iron spindles that is my built in dog gate, so when the dogs come in from the barn, they’re trapped in the mudroom until clean enough to enter the rest of the house.

The laundry room is also right off the mudroom, so dirty clothes get tossed right in there, and there is a huge slop sink in the laundry room as well.

It’s been very functional, the only thing I would have done differently is to tile it instead of hardwood…

[allons-y]

Bluey, no one uses our front door either. My first delivery from Fed Ex came to the mudroom door. I asked why he came to that door? “No one uses the front door, I’ve delivered here for years”. Two years later, I quickly pull my gun if anyone knocks at the front door! Last person was a Detective on a case related to my home invasion. He apologized for frightening me by using the wrong door!

[HorsesinHaiti]

I liked the efficient space along one short wall with a small dog/ boot shower on the left, a small counter with a built in dog bed underneath in center, and stacked washer-dryer on the right. Except in place of the dog bed I’d have a draining tray for just washed stuff with a drain to the shower. And a shower wand hose long enough to let me rinse the draining tray.

[spaceagevalkyrie]

I’ve lived in 2 houses with epic mudrooms. The first, you entered in the back door, the stairs to the basement were immediately to the right, and the kitchen immediately to the left. The mudroom itself was quite long and deep with giant closets, HEAVY duty tile, and ended in the laundry room which also was a 1/2 bath and had a huge tub for washing nasty barn jun.

The second was a cement floored laundry room attached to the garage, which also had an additional entrance from the outside. If you walked out the kitchen door into the garage, the door into the laundry room was immediately to the left. Not as cool as the first one, but it prevented me from being slaughtered by my mother for wearing nasty barn clothes into her pristine kitchen

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=allons-y;9026530]
Bluey, no one uses our front door either. My first delivery from Fed Ex came to the mudroom door. I asked why he came to that door? “No one uses the front door, I’ve delivered here for years”. Two years later, I quickly pull my gun if anyone knocks at the front door! Last person was a Detective on a case related to my home invasion. He apologized for frightening me by using the wrong door![/QUOTE]

I hear you, for some reason, the front door is just not as appealing to anyone, never has been.

Glad that was not someone up to no good at your door.

You would think that a detective should have a little more sense than that.