Getting Organized: Designing A Mudroom For BH&G

Organizing space is on everyone's mind during winter months. Providing places to neatly store winter coats, boots, shoes, hats, gloves and school gear is always a challenge. In many homes, the space for an elaborate mudroom is simply not available.

For many of us, an elaborate mudroom may not be affordable and so, my challenge was to design an organization center that could be built in almost any home and on a small budget.

Two years ago Better Homes and Gardens magazine asked me to design a mudroom space that would be easy and affordable to make. With just a little building knowledge, you can make one too!



For the additional bookcase design that I had in mind, I first needed to find a home with an entry area that included some unused wall space. My good friend, Joanne Palmisano of Salvage Secrets, came to my rescue. I explained to her that my assignment was to create a mudroom from an under-utilized entryway. Without a moments hesitation, Joanne said, "Use mine!" That's one of the reasons I love her!

Joanne lives 5 hours away but that didn't matter. Her home is my home-away-from-home, and so, off I went! I'm always happy to work with Joanne.

Are You Ready? You Can Do This!


We started with a 4' X 8' sheet of bead board purchased at Home Depot. It was mounted directly to the wall using wood screws which are drilled through the board and into the wall's studs which is behind the sheet rock.


To give the edges of the bead board a 'finished' appearance, we added trim moulding. Cut the moulding to the same height as the board. Then use caulking glue to adhere the trim.


Press the trim to the wall and against the bead board to cover the raw edge.

I found a company in Texas that makes pegged shelves:  Peg and Rail can be custom made to any length and then painted in a variety of colors.


Its a good idea to have two pairs of hands when creating this project. Joanne held the shelf in place while her husband, Steve, screwed the board into the 2" X 4" studs behind the sheet-rocked wall.


Be sure you know were the studs are before you start. Mark them on the wall above the bead board for guidance.


As you can see in the photo above, we added a second row of pegs across the middle of the bead board and another row under the window. You can never have too many pegs.

OK, we're almost done! To create more storage space, I added a small bookshelf under the window. The bookshelf came from Knock On Wood Unpainted Furniture. I used an Alder Mackenzie bookcase which is 38.5" W X 29" H

Bravo Joanne and Steve Palmisano. I could not have done it with out you!!

Dressing Up Your New space.


The bookshelf is conveniently placed as an entry table and for storing shoes on the shelves below.

Once the new room was done, styling the mudroom was icing on the cake. To set the stage for photography, I brought in boxes and boxes of props provided by my favorite vendors. BH&G Editor, Amy Panos, then arrived from Des Moine, Iowa and we spent a day shooting the our completed Mudroom story.

You can get the full story with additional step-by-step instructions by clicking: http://www.bhg.com/decorating/storage/mudroom/how-to-make-a-peg-wall/#page=1

- Rug from: Company C
- Little Bench from: The Pottery Barn
- Baskets from: Home Goods
- Boots, jacket, bags and binoculars from: LL Bean and Garnet hill
- Decorative Pails and storage caddies from: http://themacbethcollection.com/shop.shtml