Chalet Appreciation: Mudroom

Have you read the Pioneer Woman? She is a city girl who married a cowboy and now lives in the country. She talks constantly about the amount of mud-caked laundry country life gives her. I always thought she embellished the quantity, now I believe her. Chalet du Francais, the mountain house in the big city, is surrounded by muddy hills and filled with workmen and children who drag all that mud into the house. As soon as I saw the Laundry Room, I knew it would be the perfect mudroom. I have ALWAYS wanted a mudroom, but in California most houses don't have them. I don't have a true before picture of the laundry /mudroom, but here it was when we moved in and before Mr. Man did some magic. Since this is the side entry to the house, right next to the driveway it easily becomes a dumping ground for everything. Before we moved in, I told Mr. Man how I envisioned this room. I couldn't believe it when he said, "Let's do it right away." So we bought a new front loading dryer to match our other one, which means both dogs can now watch the laundry spin, no more fighting!My original plan was to put a countertop over the washer and dryer, but it got to be way expensive due to the depth of the counters. So Mr. Man just slapped some plywood on top until we have a better idea. I stained it to try and make it look less plywood-like. The counter makes all the difference, I can fold laundry, do projects there, pile up junk, sort stuff.. the list goes on!Mr. Man installed cabinets and a shelf, and now there is tons of storage. The cabinets are just prefab cabinets from the Hardware store. (and notice they still have the labels on them, I finally just took them off!)
Now, when the kids walk in the door, they each have a basket to stash backpacks and school stuff. There is a bathroom right there, which is handy for muddy hands. Believe me there is lots of muddy hands, muddy paws, and muddy shoes. It's the simple things in life... for me it's the mudroom!