Don't Break Up Over the Mud Room

We are back at the Hornby Island home building project today having moved from the perfect kitchen to the Mud Room. I understand that Mud Rooms have become quite fashionable around the country, even in environments that don’t have a MUD SEASON. In Alaska the Mud Season is often referred to as break-up season. (And I am not talking about breaking up with your loved one, I am talking about when the thaw comes and the frozen landscape turns to 12 inches of MUD). I bought my first pair of break-up boots in 1983, just plain black…this is not about fashion; it is about survival. Buying your first pair of break-up boots is a rite of passage. (This photo is of my oldest son and his little friends at the Alaska Zoo, Anchorage, AK-Circa 1983-Break-Up Boots galore.)

My friends, John and Darren, are contemplating the design and what to include in the MUD Room. You really need to read their post and all of the comments they have received, because it seems a good MUD room is worth its weight in keeping your homestead running smoothly. By the way, one friend cautioned them so: "Most important, home design and agreement is one of the most trying occupations for relationships. This is the real testing ground!"

Here's to The Break-Up Room (AKA: The Chesterfield Room)

Here is my OP-ED...
June 24, 2010

Ok, let’s see. I think before I can really weigh in on this, you need to let us know a bit more about your lifestyle and Hornby Island weather.

1. Are there any small children in the family…the reason I ask this, is that sometimes you need to design with different heights in mind. How high to place a hook, how low to set a bench, etc. If small children will only occasionally visit, then it matters not: except for resale.

2. Do you have cats? Some people hide the litter box in the mud-room.

3. Does it snow on Hornby Island? Enough that you might enjoy alpine or Nordic skiing? Ski racks, ski boot placement.

4. Do you intend to have a garden? Do you have deer, moose, rabbits, etc on Hornby Island?

I think the operative word here is ROOM. For two reasons, you want it to be a room-not just a space or section and you want it to be roomy. I think it should have a door that separates it from the perfect kitchen. Here are my thoughts:

• I had forgotten all about life in the North Country. You see, when you live in most of California and Arizona you don’t think about cellars or basements. I have lived with many basements and for the most part found them to be a waste of space, filled with clutter, usually musty, constantly being pumped to remove groundwater or worse. In one home the laundry was in the basement! Oh, my god. It was a granite basement which allowed critters to creep in. My husband adopted a cat to be a mouser, but one day I went down the stairs and there sat the cat staring at the mouse, like Tom and Jerry. You need to face two facts: you are not getting any younger and just because the clothes will magically arrive in the basement via a chute this doesn't mean that you or your guests will not face mobility issues down the road. You don’t want to argue about who is going to go "down cellar" (as they say in New Hampshire). Put the laundry appliances in this ROOM; make sure you have a pull-down ironing board. Remember, if the laundry appliances are in the ROOM, then when you come in from outside soaking wet, you can put the wet clothes in the dryer or the dirty clothes in the washer.

• Let's talk about colorful vegetables – I stopped being enchanted with the idea of gardens when I lived in Anchorage and the moose would graze through the neighbor's gardens. But let's assume you will have a garden. If you plan the ROOM with plumbing, (think laundry) have a potting sink. A restaurant-style pot washer might also be installed to handle large pots and buckets.

• The solution to the dog or your muddy boots is a hose-down area. A ground-floor basin with a drain and a wall-mounted handspray easily accommodate dirty boots, feet, and paws.

• Now about the Freezer. When we moved to Anchorage from southern California, my mother thought we should buy a freezer. Her reasoning was this: "what if you get snowed in and need to survive for days on end". (This from a woman that was born and raised in Butte, MT and had never owned a freezer.) But my husband thought it was a good idea, so we bought a really large chest freezer. It was delivered and moved into our heated garage (you know the one with a drain). For three years the only thing that was ever placed in that freezer was some salmon, that I did not enjoy cleaning. Truth is we never ate the salmon! When we moved to New Hampshire, the first home we lived in had a poured basement (rebuilt farmhouse). The freezer was moved into the basement through the bulkhead door and sat empty for a year. When we bought our Country Inn, the freezer was moved to the country inn kitchen. FINALLY, a legitimate use. But then again we slept 120 guests. A freezer is up to you…but remember if you fill it, be sure to have a generator for power failures, as you can lose a lot of inventory.

Finally, here are some links to sites that offer pretty good information about MUD/UTILITY/PANTRY ROOMS.
This Old House Episode 1 | This Old House Episode 2 | How to Plan a Mud Room
P.S. It seems you have a lot helpers on this. Vestibule is a nice word and for some reason I like Chesterfield Room. (For no reason, I just like the ring of it.)
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Here is John's reply:

June 24, 2010
Judy, we can’t believe all your great questions and advice. What a help this is being between you and Susan Davis and the others.

I’ll answer a few of your questions to begin with:
1. No small children unless they visit with someone else so we can probably not worry too much about that. Hooks and benches can probably be at adult height.
2. No cats and not likely to have. I’m allergic to them.
3. Snow. Hornby Island gets more snow than Vancouver which means it gets a few days per year. Nothing to speak of. Occasionally it can get a massive dump and have a few feet around but it usually only lasts for a week or two at the most because it usually warms up and rains. In other words, no winter sports. It’s a damp climate in the winter.
4. We do intend to have a garden and this is something that needs to be designed into the whole property from the beginning. There are a lot of deer on the island (they aren't very big) but they eat anything. All gardens on the island need to be fenced because of the deer. Making something attractive is needed so it doesn’t look like wire everywhere.
The other weird thing is possums. Some idiot brought them to the island to raise in the 80s and they got out and the rest is history. Though Simon, the lab up the road has killed a few in his day, they are around and probably eat garbage and other things. Yuk. There are no other beasts except for the odd bear that swims over once every ten years or, a few years ago a cougar. They end up getting shot and removed, eventually.

Regarding basements. We are not inclined to one unless it's where the water cistern goes or that sort of thing. I’m with you about basements. They collect junk. Ok, the chute idea is out, for sure. I kind of said it for fun, but obviously, it captured my imagination and that of others. It does have an "upstairs downstairs" ring to it though I don't believe we will be hiring maids and butlers.
If you see my mother's comment, she is a proponent of the pull-down ironing board. I like the idea too. I remember how sturdy hers was in our kitchen growing up.

Clearly, the ROOM is getting bigger. We now have washer and dryer, sinks for washing, tables for organizing, a bench, and ironing board, place for boots and jackets and, it could even act as a pantry of sorts with a door to the kitchen. It could also have the hot water tank and electrical panels.

Darren is the real gardener and will truly take a deep interest in this so having things set up well for it would be good.

I LOVE your story about the freezer. The honesty of it is great. It's so funny when you have things that get carted around through your life only for you to find out later that it’s been a waste of energy. It's very much like mental attitudes we carry around through life only to look back on and wonder why the heck we ever did!
We will have emergency backup for the house, but you have me wondering now whether an additional freezer really is worth it. They always seem to be a pit that stuff gets stuck in and never used. We may be better to get a really big fridge with a good sized freezer in it (we have started looking, but that’s another post).
We'll head off now to look at the sites you've recommended. (I have always loved watching This Old House on PBS)
Lastly, I'm intrigued by your Chesterfield Room comment. Very interesting. I thought "Chesterfield" was a Canadian thing only. We always call a sofa, a chesterfield. My mom still has the same chesterfield she got shortly after being married sixty years ago. It's been refinished a few times, but it's in great shape, it's heavy as a tank, and it was a great day-bed for sick kids to lie on.
I guess if we called it the Chesterfield Room, we'd have to add one to the room. Gee, the room keeps getting bigger. Maybe we should just make the whole house one room. Ha ha.
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The comments, as I said above, continued. They are a must read.

Let me know what your experience is with MUD Rooms. Would love to hear from you.

Out Beyond the Perfect Kitchen

 A few months ago I had the pleasure of meeting(virtual) John McLachlan. In late April, John and I commented back and forth about him creating a new blog that would chronicle his home-building project on Hornby Island. John and his partner, Darren Bond, launched their new blog Living Out Beyond on May 31, 2010. It is a great read, with beautiful photography, inviting videos, and this is one housebuilding project that you can enjoy...vicariously. John and Darren would like your input, so feel free to get involved. Just recently they wrote "What Makes the Perfect Kitchen?" I hope you read their post and offer your ideas. Here is what I had to say. Their itemized responses to me are in BOLD.

Here is my OP-ED...

June 13th, 2010 

What makes a perfect kitchen? Your designer asked you early on: do you live to eat or do you eat to live? To this you answered easily: “we live to eat”...Which is to say, the kitchen is an important room.

I would argue that if possible the kitchen should always be designed for the former, “living to eat”, as it will keep the property more livable and marketable (and yes, I know, you have no intention of selling…but)

While I am going to chime in on this subject, I want you to know that I have never designed a kitchen and never have I done a major remodel of a kitchen. My expertise is that I have learned what I do and don’t like in a kitchen from just plain living!

First, the don’t likes:

1. I don’t like any kind of tile with grout. This includes flooring. Grout is a maintenance hog. Scrubbing, bleaching, sealing, replacing…I would avoid tile. Grout – hate it.

2. I don’t like Formica. It burns…and yes someone will place a hot pot down on your Formica. Formica – hate it.

3. I don’t like colored appliances. I am old enough to remember white, bronze, avocado, buttercup yellow, almond, black, white, and stainless steel. (Many custom kitchen have their appliances’ exteriors match their cupboards—matters not to me.) Coloured appliances – hate them (well, they look quaint in a retro-futuristic way).

4. I don’t like dark cupboards; they darken the room too much. Dark cupboards – hate them.

5. I don’t like wood cupboards, too easily scratched by animals, children, etc. (Very frustrating- my sister-in-law’s collie literally ate her lower kitchen cupboards!) Wood cupboards – hmmm, have to think about that; great point about dogs chewing on them. Our current Schnauzer, Kepler, is beyond that age-wise, but who knows that mischief future puppies might get into.

6. I don’t like anything IKEA…I bought from them in 1997 and will never again darken their doorway. (Picture desks, bookcases, wall units disintegrating in front of your eyes when you try to move them.) IKEA – I just about jumped off the balcony trying to put together a sideboard.

7. I don’t like carpet in a kitchen. I experienced this once. It was pretty easy to care for until my then four year old squeezed a bottle of syrup on to the carpet! Carpet – hate it (plus, and this is a big point generally in the house, I’ve developed mild allergies and asthma, so bugs and fumes are something to be avoided in building materials)

8. I don’t really like a kitchen that opens up to every other common room. I love being able to close the kitchen door and sit down at a beautiful table without seeing the prep mess. Open kitchen – think this may be the one point we’re thinking differently; I suspect it’ll be a fairly open concept with the kitchen, eating area and living area all connected and looking out over the water. I do admit, though, that the Manhattan of pots and pans on Christmas day is a bit much.

9. I have grown away from wallpaper, although it can hide a myriad of sins in an antique home. Fabric back vinyl is the best for kitchen use. Wallpaper – don’t really hate it, but paint seems better (and there seems to be varieties that aren’t so toxic which I really need to explore)

10. I don’t like stainless steel sinks…very hard to keep looking nice. Every family member needs to be committed to this goal. Stainless steel sinks – I kind of like them, myself, but John is more partial to, ummm, ceramic (is that what the white sinks are made from?)

Suggestions of what I like or think I would like:

1. I believe you are correct that your appliances need to be provided by a company that will be willing to service them on Hornby Island. Kenmore used to be great for this reason; however, I believe appliances used to be built to last, but it seems from my recent experience that is not the case anymore. (My oldest sister just replaced her refrigerator that was 40+years old).

2. Have you considered ELECTROLUX appliances? I can tell you my mother bought a vacuum in 1949 and when she passed away in 2006, the vacuum was still going strong. They offer induction stoves and are well respected for Green Homes . Electrolux – thanks for the link; we’ll review it carefully – hadn’t really thought of them at all but they do look promising and have much more that I recall. We’ve loved our Miele appliances but are nervous about their serviceability on the island. Now, perhaps they’ll last forever, but what lasts forever? (I notice that they say they’re the only appliance company on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index; the company I work for, TELUS, is the only telecommunications company on the index, too. I help put our submission together each year; I work in Human Resources.)

3. I like the look of stainless steel cupboards, adding glass doors for the upper cupboards is a nice touch. (I believe you would have less scratching from kids and animals…and they would be easy maintenance. No painting, staining, stripping, etc. Very green! Stainless steel cupboards – another great suggestion; we’ll check into them further.

4. Now you are going to think this is crazy…but many a day I have wished that the kitchen floor had a drain! Think about the dishwasher that decides to break, the washing machine, and maybe even the water heater. I once had a garage with a drain. This was in Alaska. The reason for the drain was to be able to rinse off your car during the winter months. Drain – yes! We talked about this this morning. It was something that occurred to us for the mudroom but not the kitchen itself. It makes so much sense and doesn’t have to be out in the middle of the room, I suppose. If you’re out and there’s water flowing all over the place, it will find the drain. Presumably there can be ever so slight of an incline to encourage the water in that direction.

5. I like adding color with items that can be changed over time: light fixture glass globes, canisters, towels, flower pots, etc.

6. I have come to love simple concrete floors, stained. More information here. Concrete floors – again, yes, this is something that has come up both with friends who have had it in their condos and in material I’ve read. There are so many finishes and we want radiant heating, so that makes sense. And, back to my asthma, it seems cleaner.

7. I, too, like two ovens.

8. I think I like the idea of a dishwasher that is drawer style. It makes physical sense to me.

9. I really like having a pantry closet, walk-in. I have enjoyed that feature in two homes.

10. Some people rave about soapstone sinks and counter tops. All I know is I like the look!

Well, you asked and I answered. I am hoping you will allow me to feature your blog and my response to this post on my new blog. Let me know.
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Here is Darren's reply:
June 13, 2010
Well, thanks again Judy for your thoughtful and insightful and helpful comments. Yes, feel free to reference our blog in yours.

Cheers! Can’t wait to see your suggestions for our other rooms…
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What would your perfect kitchen look like?  We can all afford a daydream, now and then. Let me know...

In the meantime here is an entertaining slide show of kitchens I have lived with from 1978-present.