Mudroom "Cubbies"...anyone have pics?

[Tim Morton]

I am going to build a cubby system in our mudroom to try and keep the 50 or so pairs of boots my kids wear put away. I have google searched it and come up with some OK idea's. Just looking for some pics that you guys may have built. It will be about 6-7 feet long and maybe 4-5' high plus a short base. I am thinking 5 columns and 3-4 cubbies per column. I'm problably going to use some of that cheap maple ply at HD so i can stain it a dark cherry color.

[Tim Morton]

This is kind of the plan I have in mind...I think the one on the right would require a bandsaw purchase no? :D

[William Lai]

Tim: I am building a house and have a tight space that I'll be putting in a mud room setup like the ones you posted. My architect designed it and so I can't just post the design, and it's not done yet so I can't post a photo either :-) But I can talk about our requirements:
- For our family of four, we are dividing the available space into four partitions
- We take shoes off at the door and so having alot of room for shoes and stuff is important. Each partition will get four cubbies for shoes. It's going to store the most often worn shoes. We didn't accomodate for boot storage, since we don't get much snow up here, and if we do have boots I guess it'll just be stashed in front of the bench
- We have a fairly narrow space, and so we won't have a wide bench in our setup. It's enough depth that we can park our rear ends while we put on shoes, that's about it.
- Each partition has adjustable shelving holes for the upper. For the kids who don't need the full height for sitting down, we'll put up more shelves for storing gloves, hats, etc. For the adults, we'll have a smaller # of shelves above so we can clear our head when we sit down on the bench.
- Each partition will have hooks for coats, etc.

If we have more room, we'd have spent more time on carefully thinking through the design, but there are so much space constraint that we just went for the bare essentials.

We are going for fucntion first and foremost. And being modernist the unit will be pretty much all straight cuts at right angle to each other, devoid of decorations. Which is just as well, because there's no room for the decorative where it is going!

[Tim Morton]

sounds similar to my situation...the problem we run into is walking into the mudroom to take off wet snowy boots then forces us to walk "back" through the same path to enter the main part of the house. (we had a knee wall put in that causes this)..poor planing on my part, as the builder talked me out of a design i had that would have avoided that problem. I'm hoping to change that with this built-in(and tearing out the knee wall.) and create a one-way path. In on one side, and then out on the opposite wall. I'll post pix if it works.

[William Lai]

Tim: I noticed last night that the Taunton Press' Built-In Furniture Idea book has a few mudroom setup that you may be interested in. May want to check it out.

I am afraid that I'm going to have the same problem as you, as the mudroom is off the main hallway that leads from garage to kitchen, but in my case, I can't avoid it due to the layout. If the situation gets bad, I think I may put in some sort of elevated mat (like you find in locker rooms) so at least the surface is dry. Good luck.

[Tom Peterson]

Tim,
My pictures would not do more for you than the pictures that you have. Due to limited space I was only able to build two lockers (one for each kid). I used poplar which will be painted white. Funny, I also had to install beadboard like your pictures. From a size perspective each locker is 17" wide on the inside. The top is 72 inches from the floor. I have two shelves down below, first is 12" off the floor the second is 20". The locker is 10" deep on the inside. It built it over the last weekend. It took longer to make up for walls not plumb and corners not square. I can email you a picture if you like.

[Chad Pater]

Wanted to resurrect this thread because I'm in the planning stages too for some cubbies or maybe just a bence seat/mirror/shelves combo. How yours coming along Tim? Anyone else have opinions?
Chad

[William Lai]

Chad, in a week or so I will be able to provide you pictures of my cubbies. Stay tuned.

[Chad Pater]

Chad, in a week or so I will be able to provide you pictures of my cubbies. Stay tuned.

Sounds good

[Doug Shepard]

Do the boots just go on the floor underneath? My only thought is whether the maple ply is a good choice if you're actually putting boots away on those surfaces. I would think that the boots would often have wet or at least damp soles when put away. That might give you grain raising problems? Maybe melamine panels if you're actually setting boots on them?

[Chad Pater]

Do the boots just go on the floor underneath? My only thought is whether the maple ply is a good choice if you're actually putting boots away on those surfaces. I would think that the boots would often have wet or at least damp soles when put away. That might give you grain raising problems? Maybe melamine panels if you're actually setting boots on them?

Boots will have to stay on the floor. I think that one picture with boots on the bench was probably arranged by the photographer.