Tales of The Mudroom Remodel

Things have been pretty busy around here.  Several projects happening all at once, with nothing completely finished yet to share.  So, I thought I would go back to the waaayyyy beginning and share my very first post on this blog.

Our mudroom is one of the heaviest trafficked rooms in our house – second only to the kitchen.  We come and go through this door, and our frequented guests do as well.   This posts was my first because the mudroom remodel was the first big project I completed in our old farmhouse.  So, without further adieu, get inspired by this throwback transformation…

Mudrooms, in my opinion, are a necessity in the home.   I had always hoped for a mudroom, so when we bought our farmhouse, the room previously used for storage, was a mudroom waiting to be designed.

Dark walls and large cabinets hang on the walls

Farmhouses are known for having lots of doors. In our mudroom, there are 5 doors! So the cabinets had to go.

So, I painted.  Looked nice.  Until a plumbing problem arose in the bathroom directly above the mudroom.  The entire ceiling had to be torn out, which I was able to accomplish myself.   The plumber was called in to update from galvanized piping to PVC.

The ceiling was reinstalled.  I repainted and was starting to be happy again.  But the floor was such an eyesore.  How could I have a nice-looking mudroom with a floor like this?

Scary Floor!!!! (But very friendly dog, Hudson, observing my every move.)

So I got to work.  I tore up the awful linoleum, and luckily, there was only one layer of subfloor.

I pulled up the subfloor, and there they were; original hardwood floors, begging me to make them pretty again. 

Pulling out all the nails seemed never ending, but finally I was ready to sand.   And sand I did!

And sanded.  And sanded.  And sanded.  These little guys became my friends.

I decided to go with a custom light grey stain.  Three layers of stain, and three layers of polyurethane later, I was satisfied.  And happy.  And I felt very accomplished.

Once the floors had dried, it was time to decorate.  After a few months of hard work, the mudroom was complete.   I’m sure I’ll decide to change a few things here and there, but for now, I’m really satisfied.