Mudroom/utility

[Autumnpumpkin]

We are in the process of starting a side extension where we will be gaining a mud/boot room and utility. I've been on pinterest, watching youtube videos etc but I'm just wondering if anyone has any amazing clever ideas for either, I'd love to see designs if you could share. The other question I had was, in our kitchen we have a handmade kitchen with a granite work top which we love. Is it worth doing this again in the utility or would it be better to go with a more budget friendly option with it been the utility? It is not going to be accessed through the kitchen but through the hall way so we dont need it to be similar as you maybe would if they flowed through to each other.
We are a family of 5 with a dog. One thing we would love is a doggy shower in there and then the washer and dryer. I have high hopes for this room, especially as we dont have loads of storage and I hate all the coats and shoes in the hallway! Any suggestions would be fab.

If it's a boot room as well as a utility I would think about somewhere to sit to take boots off. Eg a bench with shoe storage underneath. I'm planning an extension to my current utility which only has a washer/dryer/biller/sink and cleaning cupboard. The extra bit will have overflow freezer which is currently in the garage, overflow storage cupboard. Coats and shoes storage and also a bench. I currently have a towel radiator in there which is useful for drying wet coats hats scarves etc.

Depending on the space available, I would look at elevating the washing machine and drier to eliminate bending. I’d have a folding and sorting area beside the dryer, with a drop down ironing board, and a hanging rack. If you are going to have a radiator, choose a towel rail one so you can dry on it, and place it close to the washing machine.

I’d go for a cheaper worktop, I think.

I’m very envious of your mudroom! For me it was a choice between utility or mudroom and utility won out.

Yes good idea. We will have a radiator in there but that's a good point of which type as a taller one maybe more useful.
@Mumski45 how big will your room be with the new extension?

I also have one of them pulley airers on my wishlist!

At the moment ours is roughly 2.5m by about 1.6m so that's a 2.5m work top length down left hand side with walkway from kitchen to back door full length of the room. The plan is to move the right hand wall back a further 0.8m to allow for freezer, cupboard and coats so it would end up about 2.5m square.

Are they one combined room or two separate rooms?

I’ve never understood a combined mudroom and laundry room tbh, last place you want to be doing laundry is in a muddy room. If there’s any way to separate them I would definitely do that.

Laundry/utility room ideas:

• stack the machines to save space, you can get stacking kits with a pull out shelf
• Pulleymaid type drying rack from the ceiling (you need to know where the joists are)
• Definitely cheaper cabinets. But have something pretty in there (lovely tiles?) to cheer it up. You might be able to find a cheaper offcut of granite if you don’t need a big length or are happy to live with joins.
• Second freezer
• Place to charge cordless hoover if you have one
• Floor to ceiling storage, you will fill it
• extractor fan, or window you can leave open

Mudroom ideas

• Double row of pegs for jackets/kids coats and a few single row for long coats
• Tall shelving unit or cubby hole unit for shoes. Can also hold sports kit bag, music bag, helmets, skates, random car kit, boxes of gloves and hats, etc.
• Have a few plastic containers (that fit in the cubby holes/on the shelves) that you can put muddy items in to catch the dried mud
• Patterned floor much more forgiving
• Heated electric towel rail very useful for drying off wet coats and shoes

Is the dog large? Could you lift him/her up to sink level? If so then I’d have a big sink which doubles as doggy shower but is also useful for lots of other things.

@minipie that's a really good point we hadnt thought about that! We could because there is going to a stud wall where the bikes and scooters will be stored. We could push that wall back to incorporate the mud/boot room area rather than having it in the actual utility area.
The doggy is smaller at the minute but we have plans for a bigger dog in the future. We will be having a sink as well as the shower though.

Can’t quite picture your layout but glad it helped!

If you are planning to hang bikes and scooters on a stud wall then make sure the builders put extra studs in at exactly the right positions for your bike brackets! You’ll never get them to hold if you try hanging them off plasterboard...

This isnt our house but the side extension downstairs will have a similar layout. Rather than coming in through the kitchen there will be a doorway at the bottom of the staircase that leads in to it.
We are not sure on which % we will split it as yet. Thanks for all the help and suggestions so far. We are making notes!

I’m planning something similar with combined utility / boot room in a 3.5m x 1.7m space and can’t quite get my head round the best configuration at the moment. Ideally, I wouldn’t have the boot room combined with the laundry, but the only other way would be to combine laundry with downstairs WC and I really want to be able to keep guests away from the chaos of a family of 6’s laundry room!

Dog will probably get washed down outside with warm water from the utility in a watering can, then brought in to dry off in the utility room. Dog shower just one extra thing to fit in and would probably rather get the worst of the mud off him outside where I don’t have to mop.

Will keep the clothes area on the opposite side of the room to the dog area. I also wanted a folding area, drying rack, sink, and boiler and cylinder also needs to be housed in there, too. It’s a lot to fit into one small space!

We have a boot room, dog shower and utility room. In the boot room, we have a wrap around bench with storage underneath for shoes and then coat hooks (two heights one for adults and a lower one for children's coats) and a shelf at the top with baskets for storage. The dog shower is off the boot room and is very useful for hosing down the dog. I also have hot and cold water taps just outside the boot room external door which are very useful.

We have a laundry chute in our utility room which allows me to chuck my washing down from our dressing room straight into the utility room cupboard. I then have four drawers underneath for sorting the clothes that need washing (hand wash, whites, light coloured and dark coloured). Opposite that cupboard is the washing machine so you can just chuck washing straight in. We went with cheaper units to our kitchen, but got it in a similar style and colour matched to the kitchen. We did the same handles, style of tap and work surface so it looks very similar to the kitchen but at a fraction of the price. We have a large cupboard for storage of cordless vacuum etc and floor to ceiling storage on one side. We have a full height wine fridge too, but that might not be necessary for everyone . We also have a pully airers which is fab, I'd recommend it!

You can install a mixer tap outdoors (you need a special outdoor tap and ask plumber to connect to both hot and cold feeds) so could get warm water outside that way for washing the dog?

@shewouldnever it is and it's hard to visualise how and where everything would go.
The dog shower is definitely a extra...we might need to reconsider this but really I dont want too.
I agree with having the utility and mud room rather than having one with the downstairs loo.

Yes we had considered a warm outside tap too...still is a possibility.

Loads of great advice. Two things I'd add:

1. sounds obvious but really think about the glow of the room in terms of freezer near the door to the hall/kitchen do you can just pop in for something. Laundry separate from muddy area if possible and all things outdoor related near the door.

2. even if you can't separate off the boot room section, can you change the flooring so the area by the door is e.g. all coir whic should retain the worst if the mud and stop it getting spread through the room.

Flow not glow FFS!

@Maggiefs yes we will have to sit and think about how it will flow. We thought the garage/bike store might be the first part of the build which will mean that we will walk in to that bit from the house if that makes sense.

We are having a combined utility / boot room.
Lots of storage, maybe I've got too much in our plan?!
Plan what you need to keep there.
We are planning on one side batteries, light bulbs, shoe polish, laundry sundries, some spare shopping eg kitchen roll. Laundry baskets. Pegs. Barbecue utensils.

Sink
WM TD
Ceiling airer I hope - any recommendations?

Then on opposite all shoes, wellies, hats, sunscreen, cycling helmets, puncture repair kits. No doubt sports kit and maybe swimming bags would be handy. Could dry then store there and easy to find again. Picnic stuff. Shopping bags.
Iron, vacuum, cleaning stuff.

1.7m clothes rail to hang coats on hangers not hooks. Dry better, keep shape and easier to find.

I've sacrificed a bench to sit on to put shoes on for more cupboards / drawers. Hope I'm still happy with that when it's finished!

Forgot to say, consider extractor fan and generous heating for drying clothes / wet coats and cycling gear.

We have a boot room with a proper dog bath. It has a motor and goes up & down, we’ve got 2 medium sized dogs and DH never washed them when he had to bend over. It was £1100. In the same room we have a long built in bench with space underneath for boots & shoes. One wall has a coat rack with hooks over a low level radiator with a shelf above it. The final wall has two cupboards and open shelves inbetween. One cupboard has shelves, the other hanging space and a shelf at the top.

If you have the space I would always recommend keeping the utility and mud room separate. Mud rooms are muddy, you don't want to be worrying about wrestling a now wet dog away from your clean like of laundry. We have a laundry room and a boot room. Different names, same concept. In the laundry room we have two big radiators, pulley maid, a sink, staked washer and dryer ironing board and rail for hanging clothes. It's one of the cleanest rooms in the hosue. The boot room has a bench, three large cupboards, a boot rack, cubby holes, hooks a d full length mirror (no dogs or children right now) when we have children one wall will be adapted to have scooters etc. Even with dogs or children it is one of the dirtiest rooms of the house. Have a floor which hides mud.

The best advice I was ever given with planning rooms was sit in them and really think about the tasks you need to do in there.

Oh I forgot to say that the single greatest thing in the laundry room is the that as it sits below the family bathroom we are going to install a simple laundry shoot so we can just throw the laundry down it. So excited.

Another thing I keep seeing, is having your utility room on the top floor instead. Far easier to move dirty and clothing around one floor rather than cart it around.

We've installed a hot and cold outdoor mixer tap to wash the dog, exactly so the utility room doesn't get sprayed with water and fur when the dog shakes after being washed.

We have friends with a beach house and they have an outside shower ( for cleaning sand off wetsuits etc) and they have a triton electric shower outside. So it only needs a cold feed I made a note as when we get a dog I am going to have one put outside to clean him or her off too. We have a drain about a meter away and an outside tap by the back door . So should be a good spot to do it .

Wow thanks for all the replies. There are some great ideas. Thanks everyone. Does anyone have any diagrams/pictures they could share along with sizes of room?