Entrance foyers are welcoming areas to a house, but not always functional for country homes, especially if they are formal entries.
Enter the mudroom. Many country homes feature a room on the side or rear of the house for such a purpose or put on an addition.
Today, mudrooms have become just as important as formal foyers and with a lot of thought going into their design and function.
Architect James Crisp has given permission to show some of his many designs and how they were designed for clients.
(Click on Photos for full size)
Mudroom with Cubbies
Over the years, we have designed many mudrooms. Sometimes they are designed as a room dedicated to getting mud off of kids, pets, and everyone coming into the side door of the home. Other times, they serve light duty as entries with coat hooks and a place to sit and take off or put on shoes.
In the design of these mudrooms, we try to make them bright, comfortable, and above all, functional. In one home, the entry/mudroom is off a paved path, and in another house, you step right out of the garden and the first room you meet is the mudroom. The key is to understand how the owners plan to use these rooms and their relationship to the exterior and the rest of the house.
Photos by Rob Karosis