We’re officially kicking off our mudroom makeover, and the first step was anything but glamorous. From demoing a closet to adding new electrical and patching the floors, here’s a look at the messy (but necessary!) progress before the built-ins go in.
Last week, I shared our mudroom built-in design plans, and I am so excited to see them come to life. This project is going to completely transform the feel and function of our entire living room. It will finally give us a proper drop zone for all the shoes, bags, and chaos that come with a busy family of four.
This Escalated Quickly…
Over the summer, I’d been tossing around the idea of adding built-ins to the front of our living room. When our contractor came by for another project, I casually asked what he thought about removing the coat closet and building a custom mudroom wall in that space. He looked around and said it would be a relatively simple job—demo, electrical, patchwork—and the demo could be done in just a few days. Oh, and he had an opening in his schedule coming up before he started on a huge project. You know I couldn’t let that pass.
He also recommended a carpenter, who stopped by the same week and said he could build the custom lockers and cabinets, and he had availability right away. So just like that, we were locked in and ready to roll.
Juggling Real Life With a Renovation
With school starting and our schedules already packed, I definitely paused for a moment thinking, “Do I really want to live through a renovation right now?” But I also knew that with the timing aligning perfectly, it was worth going for it.
To prep, we cleared out our entire coat closet—shoes, jackets, internet equipment, speaker system… all of it. Most of it went down to the basement temporarily.
The trickiest part was relocating our internet setup. The wires had to be moved from the top of the wall down into the new cabinet zone, which meant we were without internet for a couple of days. Since both Finn and I work from home, we made alternative plans—he went into the office one day, and I worked from a coffee shop. We also used hotspots here and there, which worked well enough for emails and light tasks.
Demo Day: Loud & Dusty
Our contractor is great about keeping the mess contained. We’ve used him for all of our major home reno projects. He and his team put up plastic sheeting to help block the dust, which I highly recommend if you’re working in a lived-in space.
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