Our mudroom design: need your help!

Hello team! I’m in need of some help. I’m really trying to get our mudroom up and functioning -all the bags, coats and shoes scattered about our home are driving me crazy! So over Christmas, Sophia and I started the daunting task of measuring and tracing horizontal stripes in our mudroom space as I’m going for DRAMA upon entry to the back door sort of like this…

A black and white stunner! OR do I back her down a touch and go with gray???? I LOOOOOVVVVVE black and white stripes and I’ve told myself I can always get my fix of them designing our outdoor spaces this Summer…

And then the neutral lover in me says maybe play it safe and go with good ole tried and true camel/tan (truly my favorite color – how boring I am!).

We have a slew of family photos, probably too many, but I’ve always loved this next image, again DRAMATIC and over done can be really fun (and this space affords us that opportunity!). Building on the photos, I’d like to add some of those framed sweet and hilarious sayings and prints that are all over ETSY along with a few favorite Bible verses…

As well as smaller works of art and prints from our travels, the kid’s artwork and of course (duh ;-))) some of Mom’s AWESOME pen and ink creations! (insert long row of hearts here). So when we/you enter our home you are immediately hit with this wave of fun, love, hope, grace and family! Can you see why I’m so excited and anxious to get this train moving? This is what calling home is all about. xo

Did Mom have skills or what? These are all buildings from my home town. This next one was my Great Grandpa Lee’s Barber Shop and is STILL THERE and now a registered historical site. Mom played a big role, she and the Flat Rock Historical Society, in saving the site and having it moved to the city park (its where my love and desire to save old buildings comes from). You can see a picture of it HERE. My Grandpa Jack Vreeland painted all the signage around town and would “sign” each one with a black and white wood board that you can see if you look closely here just below the R and B in Barber…

It was SO cool, the white on black, the penmanship in which he painted “Vreeland”, it hung in our home for years. Sadly, the dirt had barely settled on Mom’s gravesite when a distant relative came calling for it. Boo! Oh well, hopefully it brings them lots of joy. Moving on…

Here are a couple of photos of our mudroom in its current state to give you a perspective so you can make an informed vote ;-)) This is the view coming in from the back door (notice the black fleece flopped over the sofa in the distance SOPHIA arrrrrrr).

I’d like to put a big thick rug down in this area to cozy it up…

And a bench along the wall to your left. I just had another idea, wouldn’t it be fun to do a big lighting install on the wall above the bench? What do you think? Of course, if we did decide to run with it, we might need to hire a professional electrician to fit it for us because I’m kind of clueless when it comes to electrical systems. Even if I have to look at the services of these Waterloo electricians, (click to view listing), to get a feel for the type of services that are offered, then that is what I will do. If it will help me to find a similar company in my area, then it would all be worth it in the end. I just had to make sure that I wanted to carry out this idea, as there will be no going back once it’s done.

In the end, I installed the pendant (from Ballard’s Backroom) and purchased that funky round bulb to go inside to give it a little pizazz. Surprisingly the home does not have a lot of opportunities for hanging lights. Here I hired an electrician to convert the can light to install this guy, left over from a job. A friend had hired Asbury Electric to do something similar to their space, and it had helped a bunch. I felt like the space needed it and really would like to go WILD and do something totally unexpected but practical girl said use what you have. Save money. Lame.

There is also the sweetest little window in the space, which offers a great opportunity to add drapes. Pam had a beautiful mohair drape, double width, hanging to the left of the window. At this point I’m at a total loss as to what to hang here…drapes, roman shade (one already on the back door), interior custom Window shutters hanging to each side??? We’ll cross that bridge later. There are just so many possibilities that I can choose from that it makes it harder to find one that matches my interior design tastes. Everyone that I have asked so far has said that shutters would look great in this window space and strongly suggest that I should go down this route. Maybe they’re right. I just don’t know what to do. What I do know is, its going to need to coordinate with bench cushion and don’t even get me started on where to hang all the hooks. Ugh.

Sooo what do you think?

1. Black and go for the GUSTO dramatic entry??? I forgot to mention the frames will probably all be a muted gold.

2. Gray and will mesh/flow well with the Kendall Charcoal walls in man cave and snakeskin wall covering in bathroom, both areas right off this space?

3. Tan and keep the neutral flow that the majority of the home has, not to mention I LOVE tan and charcoal together. Its one of my favorite color combos and might look cool in sight of the dark man cave walls!

Gosh now that I type this, I’m thinking TAN but would love to know your thoughts!!! It’s kind of a big decision because its kind of a pain in the ass to trace and tape all these lines HAH. Lots of wine. Lots of loud music.

Happy hump day team! I so appreciate your input! Can’t wait to share the finished product. Ciao!

Jenny the line tracing, painting fool