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.

@Somuddled Ooh interesting about the laundry chute. Our utility will be directly below our bathroom and both rooms are getting gutted so should be simple to install one. How much space does a laundry chute need in the bathroom? I wonder if I can fit one into our plans.

May I jump in and ask how big your laundry room is? Would 1.5mx2m be a good size?

I would have an outside tap (warm if you are kind) for the dog and split mud/dog and laundry room. Laundry room doesn't need to be v big. You can stack the washer and drier. Consider easy wipe walls in the mud room. Our end up sprayed with mud all the time from dogs shaking. We have 2 wardrobes in our boot room. 1 for hanging coats and shoes go in the bottom. The other just has shelves and is used for storing dog food, vases, drinks bottles etc. Have as much storage as you can, it's much easier to clean if things attacked away. A sheila maid for hanging wet coats to dry is a good idea. I would have a sink in both your boot room and laundry room, if you have space. Laundry room sink can be the 'clean' sink and boot room sink can be for washing veg, boots, dogs etc. We started with storing wellies in boot bags in the bottom of the wardrobe. It's a pain though. Nobody wants to keep putting them away and getting them out and they don't dry v well. Now we just have a space for them right by the back door (you can get trays to stand them in to catch all the mud) and they live in their bags in the wardrobe in the summer. We have hooks for dog leads with a shelf on top for hats and gloves, right by the back door.

Agree with outside tap/ shower for dog, maybe put a good grate area in for him to stand on.
Keep coats and shoes separate to laundry. Style wise coat/boot area can be more rustic, I have a bench with pigeon holes under for shoes. I'd love that on 3 walks wrap round with loads of coat pegs . I also have a higher up shelf which is great for big scarves and wraps folded up and eye level pigeon holes for hats gloves dog leads etc
In laundry it can be all clean and fresh then, I'd definitely have one of those Lakeland heated airers, the biggest one you can. I hardly tumble dry anything.

@onmyleft our new room will be 7.5m long and 2.3m wide. We arent sure as yet how we will split up the space.

[quote SheWouldNever]@Somuddled Ooh interesting about the laundry chute. Our utility will be directly below our bathroom and both rooms are getting gutted so should be simple to install one. How much space does a laundry chute need in the bathroom? I wonder if I can fit one into our plans.[/quote]
We are going to dyi it so find the joists, work out how far apart they are and make it as big as we can within thoes constraints. Probably use plastic tubing hidden in a floor to ceiling cupboard.

A bit like this but going further down. I figure if it is hidden in a cupboard it doesn't need to look amazing.

We had a laundry shute a few houses ago (late 1990s) and I didn’t find it as helpful as I’d have expected. Not sure why not. Our laundry room is on the same floor as the bedrooms now with a Sheila maid, airing cupboard, laundry sink, ironing board etc.

We have a boot room at the back door which leads into the laundry room. The boot room is a wall of fitted cupboards (almost like built in wardrobe) and on the other wall is a peg rail with a long bench underneath with shoe storage under the bench. At the end of the room is the door to the utility/laundry room which is only small but but has a washer and a dryer on the left side and a big belfast sink on the right with a small amount of worktop either side and cupboards underneath and open shelves above. We also have a ceiling pulley clothes airer.

Clever storage helps with small spaces but we kept our cupboards fairly basic shelf-wise until we knew what would work in there. We originally thought we'd keep muddy wellies and outdoor clothes in there but now we keep our road trip bits and bobs as well as raincoats and brollies. We also have a basket by the door to dump muddy washing in to keep it seperate.

Duel powered radiator so that you can dry laundry overnight when the central heating is off.

Dear LizziesTwin,
I am so intrigued by your "Rising Dogbath".
I have googled it, but so far have not found one.
Would it be possible for you to send me a link, or even a manufacturer's name please?
p.s.I have 2 dirty collies
Many regards, Smellycoat,