Mudroom Pandemonium

If you've ever found yourself browsing Pinterest, Houzz, Apartment Therapy, or any other home-design-idea-related sites, you've more than likely noticed that mudrooms are a huge trend right now. While I am certainly pro mudroom (we even designed our little house with a laundry room-slash-"mudroom" that connects our entry to the garage with the kitchen and rest of the house), there is just one element about the current trend that is driving me absolutely bonkers.


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I just can't grasp the concept (or figure out why??) that people are spending so much money on expensive built-ins for storage in these often very well-planned out, very expensive-to-build-sometimes rooms, for SHOES. If you are going to house every pair of shoes for every family member in your mudroom, what is the purpose of a bedroom closet? Are people really ok with having guests over, and all their shoes out in the open for everyone to see? Maybe I just need to get with the program, but I can't get on board with the idea of having a dinner party, inviting guests over to my home, and having 20 pairs of shoes on display, even if it is in a mudroom.

I'll be the first to admit that at this very moment, my back door looks like this:

But, we had come in from my brother's basketball game and it was raining and muddy, so I'm ok with this. I also know that if I have guests coming, or, for example, a group of photographers coming to take pictures of my house for an online article, I would probably put them away.

I am more than ok with a couple of pairs of rain boots, or rubber flip flops in the summer, stored in their neat little cubby by the back door (if you have some) - or even a "staged" pair of Hunter boots for a photoshoot (see: any Pottery Barn catalog), but seriously, has it come to this?

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