If you could build the mud room of your dreams what would it entail?
My horses are at home so I am obviously tracking in mud, manure, hay, etc at our back door. We also have three retrievers who live indoors whose mission in life is to: a)find the freshest pile of horse manure and roll in it or b) get in the lake. Sometimes (well most of the time) both a & b.
So as I am outside breaking my back bathing dog #2 while at the same time trying to keep the just bathed dog #1 from chasing after the not yet gotten to dog #3 while he is trying to dry before being allowed back in the house, I am conjuring up ideas for my dream mudroom.
My dream mudroom would include an auto car wash-like setup (complete with conveyor belt). Dogs (and occasionally hubby) go in one end and travel through the different sudzing stations. Right before they come out they would get squeegied and then blasted with an air blower. They would then be deposited in a “holding area” to finish drying. There would also be an area to take off and store our boots, shoes and perhaps a few hooks for coats, scarves, etc. Am I forgetting anything? Additional ideas?
Your dream mudroom…
… would have a cement floor w/heating underneath it and a drain in the middle, so I could hose it out :lol:
Our entire property has red clay underneath what used to be grass…
6 dogs, 4 who are in and out of the house. The JRT manages to stay relatively clean, except when she decides to roll in manure. The worst one is our little PekeAPoo, who loves to be outside. Leaves, sticks, burrs, mud, manure, more mud, anything and everything gets tangled up in that long hair. I have muddy boots at each door-thank goodness we have hardwood or laminate in most of the house.
Ahhh, the mudroom. First, it would be huge. I like the idea of concrete with a drain in the middle! :yes: There would be lots of windows, a washer and dryer, a laundry tub, lots of hooks, baskets, a bench or two, a coffee pot, a half bath, a telephone, places to hang horse blankets, a place where the dogs could hang out, a woodstove, place to keep gloves and hats----Oh, heck, I would just turn my entire house into a giant mudroom. Sure would make life a lot easier.
I am so frickin’ sick of rain and mud.
And to top it off, two of our 4 horses have been messing with the doorknob on the side door at least a couple times a day. I can guarantee if they get that door open, they will stroll right in. Yes, they get the run of the yard for now, until we get the barn fixed up.
I love my equines! :lol:
Not sure how much room you have for this dream room, but I am thinking big!
Raised platform or tub to allow you standing while doing dog bathing. SAVE your back!! Spray nozzle in that area for dog washing and rinsing. Perhaps a shower enclosure plastic type walls for hosing down, after the dogs shake water off. Tile is pretty, waterproof, but always seems to get problems with grouting. Perhaps a bathroom with people shower on the backside of dog tub, share the plumbing, for those REALLY bad days you come in filthy. Guess that shower area would depend on how many “other folks” could be walking thru the mudroom to catch you coming out!!
Have to say the cement floor with drain sounds pretty good!! You might need a couple roughed up places, doorway, outside the tub, so they are not slippery when wet feet hit the floor. I would add a small entry place just inside the back door for coming in from outside, with a second, interior door to keep cold, wet dogs outside the rest of the mudroom until I was ready for them. The dead air space is also good for saving heat in the rest of home as people run in and out.
Then on to my nice, dog-proof, mud room with coats, boots, dog wash area and the other interior door, preventing the wet dogs into house. You probably will want large closets, so some nice coats can be enclosed for company visits, away from dogs. Storage places to keep your various winter pieces of unworn attire. I try to only have one outfit per person out in view on the coat racks. Times 3, still is a LOT of clothing, plus boots and shoes. You probably want room for a dog crate too, for the new puppy or a shoe chewer.
Have to say that smooth door faces wash easier on cupboard faces. I would want all easy clean surfaces, no carpet floors.
I got a small horsevac cheap, does a great job of blowing off the wet dogs from bath. Shopvac works too. However I have an unfinished basement, so wet spray is not a problem like in a finished room. Dogs do dry much faster after being blown off!
Would a chainlink “yard” outside the door help enclose the area for dog containment outside drying? You could get all the dirty ones inside, then let them out one at a time after washing. Temporarily restrain them from horse areas to roll in.
My “back room” is going to have a opening bench to put shoes and boots in, so they are out of sight and protected from chewing teeth. It will have a center divider, so one side is barn stuff, and the other side is footwear for non-horse activities. Keeps the smell apart! I can sit on the bench to put on my shoes or boots. I even have a design picked to cut into the face of bench for airflow to the boots so they dry well! I am figuring large so Tall boots, muck boots, barn shoes will stand up in pairs, plenty of room for numerous pairs on each side. Probably as big as a tack trunk!
Needs some shelf space for boxes to keep summer hats and gloves, winter hats and gloves. AND the best, one of those boot dryers. I think they are one of the best accessories invented, nothing like putting on WARM winter boots in the AM!!
Wow, just thinking of this room has all kinds of ideas cooking!
I think the size of a two-car garage would just about be big enough.
Aside from all the other good ideas listed, I’d also want room for a potting “shed” and garden canning/freezing prep station that I could wheel my big garden cart right up to. (I’d want at least one big overhead door for that.) Room for a couple big freezers and root crop storage and other food storage would be good also.
My dream mudroom? It would have an attendant(handsome–more like a cabana hunk!) so all I had to do was dump my clothes(!) or dogs or whatever and he would clean all so I didn’t have to do a thing. Oh, to dream! :winkgrin:
It should be the easiest access door towards the barn!!
Our mudroom is great but it’s off the garage and it’s the front door that heads straight to the barn. We use the front door all the time to go out to the barn. My floors are never very clean. 
I would kill for any mudroom. We have to use the garage. It’s a disaster to say the least.
This all just gives more fodder to my saying “What DO city people have to talk about?” WTF is that walk across white yuppie carpeting to get to the powder room thing all about???
Wildly raising hand … YES to the mudroom ideas. I have had a mudroom plan in my head for yrs. Big enough for all the needs, scored concrete floors with a drain and a hose, I love the raised idea for the dog wash, I had been thinking a shower stall basin area. I plan for a work table space in the middle - use for laundry sorting, tack cleaning, project table with recycling sorting bins underneath. I will add laundry shelves, one shelf for each family member so that they can come get their own clothes and have a space for the clothes that they need to change into when using the mudroom shower.
ditto yes to the airlock entry. good idea to use for the dogs!
By the time you’all get done with this we’ll need a bed in there too! :lol:
Oh, you dream too small!!! You want the cabana hunk for your recreation AFTER you dump your clothes… and somebody else (doesn’t matter much who) to do the mud room attendant stuff… :winkgrin:
A friend of mine designed hers pretty well. It has cement porch with a low spigot (and perhaps a low tie ring in the wall beside it). This is her out-door doggie wash-rack.
Mine would be a converted, heated two-car garage-- it would have a tack cleaning area as well as a well-designed rack for drying blankets.
My dream mud room would have slate floors, radiant heat, a drain, plus an shower area for washing dogs, and feet - a retractable spray nozzle for the dog and lower extremities, and full on shower in case I needed to strip and shower before entering the house proper. It would be next to the kitchen have a Dutch door completely closable for “company”, but could leave the top open to keep an eye on drying dogs. There would be an area for tack cleaning and storage. Naturally it would house the washer and dryer and utility sink.
It will also have closet space to store coats, overalls, boots, etc. Since in my fantasy it’s next to the kitchen, I have a feeling it will also serve as part pantry, and have an extra fridge and freezer.
When I win the lottery, the mud room gets built first, then I will build the rest of the dream house!
[QUOTE=strawberry roan;4537260]
My dream mudroom? It would have an attendant(handsome–more like a cabana hunk!) so all I had to do was dump my clothes(!) or dogs or whatever and he would clean all so I didn’t have to do a thing. Oh, to dream! :winkgrin:[/QUOTE]
^^^^ 
I was reading Gordon Grand stories last night, and I was wondering what the Colonel really needed with a Valet, a Butler and a Housekeeper… oh wait, I know!
:lol::lol: you girls are too funny! Now I know that a mudroom hunk is not something that I knocked off my boot!!
[QUOTE=3dogfarm;4536786]
Oh, heck, I would just turn my entire house into a giant mudroom. [/QUOTE]
Afraid that is what my house has become. Keeping the dirt from the Standard Poodle off the sofa and out of our bed is a major effort.
I am lucky enough to have a raised ranch so that I come into the house from the barn through the unfinished basement.
All of my barn clothes live down there as does all of the horse stuff. It is the dog that spreads the mud everywhere.
[QUOTE=IFG;4537620
I am lucky enough to have a raised ranch so that I come into the house from the barn through the unfinished basement.
All of my barn clothes live down there as does all of the horse stuff. It is the dog that spreads the mud everywhere.[/QUOTE]
BAD DOG!!
Maybe if you keep his feet clipped down tight, between the toes, so less hair to carry dirt around would help. Does make a visible cleaning difference, when my LARGE hairy dog has “NAKED feet!”
We get to build my dream mudroom.
Actually, we’re going to have a Mud Room and a Dog Room.
Mud room: Wood stove (for drying things), lots of hooks, big armoires for storing out of season clothing in. Benches etc for tons of storage! Slate floors with in floor heat. Dogs not in mud room! Laundry room is separate. For BIG messes, see dog room, below.
Dog room: Some sort of tile or slate floor (in floor heat). A mop sink with a spigot and hose. A walk in closet for storing dog food/beds/towels/etc. This way we can wash and hose the dogs off in the dog room (and / or our muddy boots) and actually CONFINE THEM into the dog room until they dry. This way they aren’t mixing and matching with all our boots/gloves/hats/carhart jackets. I plan to have an outside door that goes to a kennel with rubber pavers as well, via a doggy door.
A friend remodeled and put in a mud room.
It is accessible from the barn and you have to go thru it to get in the house.
She keeps some dogs there and a prarie dog pair in their crate, that she lets roam the mudroom when everyone is in and at times the house.
The mud room has on one side, right by the door a shower to wash boots, dogs and people in a pinch, with a hand held head that reaches all the way down, room for three big dog crates and washer and drier with a big laundry room sink and table right there, then an enclosed toilet space with a urinal also.
On the other wall, there are first hooks for coats and a long bench with footwear under it, the rest is cabinets.
The floor is concrete and has a drain in front of the washing machine.
On the other end, there is the door to the house.
She calls the mudroom the airlock.
[QUOTE=pony grandma;4537589]
:lol::lol: you girls are too funny! Now I know that a mudroom hunk is not something that I knocked off my boot!![/QUOTE]
It looks like I will be getting one, and top on my list has always been a closet with a drain. Actually two closets - the wet/muddy closet and the dry/clean closet, for the town clothes. Tiny bathroom - ideally with shower - also a must. And I’d put the laundry adjacent to it. A place to sit while taking stuff off, tall enough so you can shove the muddy boots under it. A place for the relatively clean slippers for going on into the house. Enough storage for all the shoes we’ve inexplicably collected.
Also, I laughed at the plans that were presented to me that had the mudroom in the back and then some sort of grand entry for guests. “This is a farm, in mud country,” I said. EVERYONE needs the mud room.
Oh, and while I’m dreaming, I don’t just want the slate floor, I want a compass rose mosaic in the floor 
or maybe some other design.
