A Mud Room Cofession
I have a confession to make… you know the great urban transformation that I did last year. The one that is going to be featured in Ottawa Magazine’s January 2012 Interiors edition. Well they asked Gillian what her favorite feature is and she asked me and it’s the mud room. I know it’s weird cause there are so many gorgeous features in this house. And still it’s this one that pleases me most. It’t not as sexy as the stairs that I custom created and are so lovely and it’s not as exciting as the porch of the year that graces the front of this home but it’s the coolest.
The Almighty Mud Room
When there is a place for everything chances are better everything will find it’s way into it’s place or at the very least you can in kvetch in good conscience when they don’t. What I love about this space is it’s tucked away from any site lines except for when you come in the back door and then it just feels cheery even when it’s a bit messy. The ideal mudroom doesn’t have too many doors on it so things can just be tucked away without fussing.
Here is another one where we don’t have the luxury of devoting a whole room to the cause. We had a great downtown town house near the canal that had this smallish very badly laid out closet with louvered doors and decided to rip everything out and put in separate fixtures from IKEA. Right now they have a really nice mudroom line that I’ve been using a lot. I’d link it but find their web site frustrating. The black plastic bins are called trones and I find them so great for storing shoes but also mits and hats even files and when they are laid out with spaces between them like here you gain nice little shelf spots for cell phones and keys.
The way we did this closet is with a curtain that can be tucked out of the way. Mostly they are finding it tidy enough that they hardly need it and again it’s not in a predominant site line. If your closet is sort of tucked away and your not staring at it from you living room couch or something just taking the doors off can expand the space and usefulness almost exponentially.
So this is weird, I think this might be how other design bloggers feel- not naked- nothing about saving the world or my soul in sight. It’s ok for today cause I’m feeling kinda passionate about mud rooms since Andrea at A Peak Inside the Fish Bowl has been promoting my business as I am one of her patrons has asked what people need and so many mentioned storage which you can see in the comments. Also the draw is open till Friday in case you would like to participate. Here’s her great post!
28 Oct, 2011
Ottawa Giveaway alert: design help from Moneca Kaiser Design Build
Posted by andrea in: Fishbowl patrons| Giveaways and product reviews
When you are very close to something it’s sometimes hard to see the warts. Or perhaps it’s just easy to pretend that they’re not there. I think this is especially true about our living spaces. We arrange the furniture in a certain way, organize things in a certain way, and are pretty much blind to the options until (1) someone points it out or (2) we hit a breaking point.
I can’t tell you how many people I’ve spoken to this past year – during the writing and research of many home reno type articles – who have reaped big dividends out of making fairly small changes in their homes. There’s so much we can do with our space that does not involve major renovations, and a well-designed living space can actually make our lives easier and less stressful.
If you’re a busy mom (like me) it’s hard to take the DIY route. The best thing is to get a fresh and informed point of view of a professional. And this is your chance! This giveaway is for one free Big Picture Consultation from Fishbowl patron Moneca Kaiser Design Build. I’ve had this service, and trust me when I say that it’s totally eye-opening. I’m so thrilled to be able to give someone this opportunity too. It’s design help for when you need it most! Like right now. 🙂
Here’s a recent email from a young Ottawa family that had Moneca do a Big Picture consult recently:
Hi Moneca,
Thanks for all the great advice. We realized after you left that many of our immediate problems could be solved just by moving furniture around, you were right:) We brought the cushions downstairs to create a low seating area (as you had suggested) and have created a study space upstairs where the cushions used to be. We looked at TV benches at ikea, but decided to first get rid of the furniture we didn’t need. This has made things so much more comfortable that we can wait on the renovations till we feel a little more financially secure as you also suggested.
Thanks again for all the tips.
Here’s how the Big Picture Consultation works:
We show up with a tape measure, tracing paper, and a calculator.
You give us the grand tour and your vision of how you want to live, what your needs are, what’s working and what just isn’t.
We need to kick around all the ideas to discover the really brilliant ones and we will!
We leave you with, the big picture of options for what your home can be when it grows up. Possibly some brilliant ideas, some sobering advice, a few messy drawings, and some budget estimating will come out of it.
Guaranteed, we will listen and share our most inspired ideas and best advice and expertise with you. This will give you the big picture and allow you to make decisions with confidence.
Eeep! Don’t you love it? The regular price of a Big Picture consultation is $300.00.
Want to win? Read on.
- This giveaway is open to anyone residing in the Ottawa area, but it is void where prohibited in Quebec.
- For your entry to qualify, use the comments below to tell us why you’d like to win this giveaway. What room(s) in your home need help? I would love to hear about it.
- One entry per family please! We want lots of people to have the opportunity to win.
- If you can’t post your comment here for whatever reason, you can email it to me for posting. Send it to andrea at quietfish dot com … however I cannot be responsible if your entry is misdirected or gets stuck in my Spam folder.
- Good karma goes to those who tweet or post about this on Facebook. I bet you didn’t know this but it actually increases your odds of winning! Really. Do you know someone who could use this service? Forward this post to them!
- I will do a random draw of all qualifying entries using Random.org at noon on Friday November 4, 2011.
- BONUS: everyone who enters this giveaway before the draw is eligible for a Big Picture design consultation at a reduced price of only $150. You’ll have to book it before Jan 1, 2012 though!
Sound good? Now over to you! Good luck!!
16 Comments
very cool light!!
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