"My What A Stunning Mud Room You have!"

Yes, sadly these are the words I long to hear. With all the millions of households projects we could be working on, which did we bust our butts on this past week? Yes, the eyesore of an entryway aptly named the mud room.

I had never heard of a "mud room" until I was a teenager. We had never had one in our house growing up, but looking back I guess my bedroom served as one. But what a great concept: A depository for all your junk, conveniently located right inside your doorway. Where everyone can see it. Where guests can put all their stuff as they enter your home. Where the kids can hide grapes in the toes of your boots. Hmm.

It's a great idea, in theory. Functional, yes. Attractive? Not so much. But HGTV would like to change all that. You know, I love Divine Design as much as the next gal, but man, home-improvement television keeps raising the bar on what the modern home should aspire to. I love it and hate it all at the same time. Now it's not enough to have a mud room that functions as a catch-all for your stuff, it must be neatly organized, colorful, slightly formal with a touch of whimsy. Oh good grief. I will never get to redecorating my bedroom at this pace.

So E and I have been working on the previously unfinished mud room. And I do mean unfinished. Drywalled, but no tape and mud. No trim. Screws in the walls to serve as coat hooks. But hey, who cares, it's the mud room, right? God knows we have more pressing projects in the house. But everyone who comes to our house gets their first impressions from this little nook. As much as I would love people to use our front door, they don't. Except the piano tuner, God bless him. And before he left he looked around and said, "What a great place you have here!" See? First impressions do count.

So we're almost done with our makeover. The walls are mudded and painted. E got the wood to make all the trim pieces. We have some pictures to go up on the walls (who needs art work in the living room, right?) and a little key holder/organizer to go by the door and cubbies for the kids shoes. We'll work on setting up the feng shui water feature next weekend.

So if you come to visit, please fuss over our mud room just a little bit. Even if you're thinking, "Dear lord, what have they done?" I promise to have a special little cubbie set aside, just for you.