Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage Blog

Make Your Mud Room a Sand Room


Bring a little beach into your life all year round!
Posted: August 01, 2016 by Honor Rudd

Mud rooms are a common solution to a number of household concerns. They give your family and visitors a place to kick off their shoes so they don’t track all the world’s dirt into your beautiful, clean home. They give you a place to organize the hats, purses, umbrellas, keys, sunglasses and other Things and Stuff that so many of us have to track down in the moments between right-on-time and just-a-minute-behind. 

If you live at the beach, or spend a lot of time there, your mud room also becomes a trap for the sand that traipses in with the towels, flip-flips, toys and various other day-at-the-beach accoutrements. If you love the beach lifestyle, whether you live near the shore or not, turn your mud room into a Sand Room and enjoy a little bit of summer all year round. 

Plan It

Whether in your vacation home or your year-round residence, your Sand Room is a multitasking room. Take time to process the individual needs of each member of the family in their coming and going. What do you need to get the kiddos ready in those last moments before you head out? Think about coming in with an armload of groceries, think about the dog running inside ahead of you, muddy from the dog park, think about carrying luggage in and out, or sports equipment, think about how high the kids can reach. Your family’s individual needs will dictate exactly how you’ll set up your personal Sand Room. 

What You Need

Your last defense between the outdoors and your home is the rug you choose for your Sand Room. Pick one that is easy to clean and quick to dry, so you’re more likely to clean it often. Indoor/outdoor rugs made of polypropylene can be hosed off and hung out to dry.

Outfit your Sand Room with tile or beadboard wainscoting. It will hold up better than dry wall when facing kicked-off shoes, excited pets, and repeated whacks from luggage and groceries and whatnot. Sealed wainscoting is easier to clean as well. 

Designated places for keys, sunglasses, and mail. Set up your Sand Room so that the first thing someone can do is drop their keys and shades, that way they’ll be right there on the way out next time. A tray, a shelf and number of hooks, or a decorative bowl can do the trick.  
A bench. A wall tree with a built-in bench is a beautiful way to go, but any bench, or even a row of low stools will do. As long as they provide a place to sit down to pull shoes on and off, a place to set down that armload of groceries, a place to perch your munchkin while you smear on some sunblock, and a place to stash stuff underneath. 

Under your seating-of-choice, set up a cubby for each member of the family. Interchangeable cubby drawers are a popular and inexpensive design choice so you can find them just about anywhere. Big box stores often have good deals and on-trend patterns, and your local craft stores might have some gems you can DIY to your own preference. It’s all about having a tucked-away place for each person to toss the stuff that doesn’t have a home someplace else. It’s also a great place to put the random things people leave out around the house as a gentle reminder that it needs to go to its home. 

Get the Look

Décor gives the impression that your Sand Room is a part of the home and not a utility space. Warm and rustic is a great way to go because a thing or two out of place makes it look lived-in and not just suddenly all wrong. Drift wood, sisal rope, sea shells, beach glass, the possibilities are endless. 

Having plenty of places to hang wet towels, light jackets, beach hats and more is vital to a Sand Room set-up. Attach hooks to an oar or piece of weathered wood—extra points for painting a beach scene or stenciling sea shells on the wood first. Swapping regular coat hooks for boat cleats adds more nautical flair too.

Keep an eye out for baskets, baskets, and more baskets. Woven wicker is as beachy as it gets--search flea markets and craft stores for baskets of varying size and shape that can become an umbrella stand, a spot for sandy beach laundry, a decorative way to display rolled-up beach towels…

With a love of the shore, and a little creativity, it doesn’t take much to convert your casual entryway into a summery Sand Room. 
 

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