The Mudroom, My Sanctuary

Living out in the country, one of the most important parts of the house is the mudroom. It's the section of the house that collects all the outside dirt, sand, bugs, chicken poop, and random tools before it spreads everywhere else. Most of the time my mud room is disgusting. If I had at least three more hours to my day, maybe I would sweep it more often....maybe. The whole cleaning thing is way overrated, especially when you live off of a very long dirt road and everything is dusty 99% of the time.

In my mudroom, I have a small laundry room with an attached smaller bathroom that includes just a toilet and a shower. It's the tiniest room of the house. When we get too dirty to walk upstairs to wash off the farm grime, we take care of business in the mudroom before tracking it all throughout the house. Like most moms, I spend about half of my life in the mudroom doing laundry. It's also a place of sanctuary for me, because my family almost never goes there except to pass through to go outside. To them, it's just a place to drop off their dirty clothes. Even the cats and dog avoid the mudroom. They seem to know that this is mommy's place to unwind. To me, the mudroom is a place for a ten minute break away from the world while I'm doing laundry. It's a place where I can hear myself think and figure out what's next on my to do list for the day. It's a place where I can talk to God in peace without three little loves constantly trying to get my attention.

The mudroom is also the place where I take care of sick, injured, or dirty chickens. I've given several chicken baths in the utility sink when their bottoms get a bit disgusting. No one likes a poopy egg! Occasionally in the winter I have to host chickens with frostbite in the small bathroom so they can recuperate and warm up. I keep all my chicken medicine right next to my laundry soap. The mudroom is like my vet office for sick animals, which thankfully, doesn't happen very often.

Since it's a safe haven for me and my girls (chickens), I decided to girlify the dirty ole mudroom so it's more of an enjoyable place for us. It probably doesn't surprise you that I decided to decorate my sanctuary with birds, since I'm crazy obsessed about them. I love wall decals. It's a quick and easy way to change a room, and when you're done with a certain look, they peel off the wall as easily as a sticker....easy peasy. Below is a before and after picture of the small bathroom. I added the decals to give the bathroom a distressed wood look behind the toilet. I'm super pleased with how it turned out. Notice I don't have any pictures taken behind the toilet. It got a little dicey and stinky back there while I was applying the decals....definitely not my best work, but the toilet and texture looking decals do an excellent job of disguising my mistakes.

Before

After

Thanks for reading my Country Squawk,

Kelly