Our mudroom and a plan

Well, it's been a little while since I posted.  I get into these moods where I just sit and obsess over an idea and look at tons of inspiration, but never get anything done.  It has been a week like that.  

I wanted to share some photos of our mudroom.  We are really lucky to have a big mudroom, but it has its challenges too.  The room has three windows and three doors (on three different walls) and also a "trap door" that is the only door that leads down into our basement.  So, we aren't left with a lot of usable wall space.  

The photos below show how the room looks now, but I am planning on changing it up a bit to better utilize the space.  We originally had our treadmill in there when we first moved here, but we got rid of it and didn't get a new one. Well, we hope to get a new treadmill soon (to help me with my goal).  So, we need to make room for it.  

This room is just one of those rooms that has to be our "catch all" room since we don't have any attic or basement storage space that's usable and our garage is not heated. Our mudroom is our coat closet, dog house, sports equipment room, basement access, and storage for stuff that is on its way to another place, among other things.  Because of all of its duties, we really need to be more efficient with our  use of space in this room.  I have been planning and brainstorming and hopefully we will be taking action soon and doing some projects to create some extra space.  I will share them as we go.

Shoe storage bench from Ikea and DIY wall coat hooks

The vintage cabinet holds shoes

The antique dresser holds hats and mittens

These old lockers were here when we moved in.  I painted them with chalkboard paint.  They hold lots of sports and workout stuff.

The old pickle can holds our dog food.  It was $2 at an estate sale.

Previous owners built the "shelf" so that lights could be placed inside the bricks.  It looks SO cool at night time.

The vintage lantern was the first thing I saw when we looked at the house and we knew this was "the one".