Wow, a Mud Room! But... Why?
One of the selling points of this place was the mud room in the foyer; everyone who had seen it positively gushed over it. It's quite elaborate: a big fancy coat rack and two broad padded benches that wrap around the back corner. Honestly, I looked at it and immediately thought, well there's some seriously underutilized space; after all, I'm not a farmer, nor will I be entertaining guests who arrive on horseback. (As an aside, have you ever seen anybody with so many freaking sneakers?)
So, on 25 October I tore it out. And what a job that turned out to be: built like a brick outhouse, the bench was assembled from 2x4s and installed before the walls were rocked. My plan was to build a nice bookcase in the former coat rack area, as I otherwise have no room for my books... or coats, for that matter.
The bookcases represented a very bizarre coincidence. Target had a bookcase set that was exactly one-quarter inch wider than the space. Yes, you read that right. I think I measured everything about a dozen times to be sure before ordering the units. Then I had to slice a quarter inch off of each shelf, plus the tops and bottoms, in order for it to fit. It was assembled in place: I had to cut holes in the coat closet wall so I could install the assembly screws. Good luck to anyone who might want to remove it!
One of the strangest arrangements I'd ever seen was a pantry located in the living room! Everyone assumed it was a coat closet, but were surprised to find food and kitchen stuff there instead. I was going to build a coat closet after the library makeover, but the kitchen makeover did away with that need: I had more than enough cabinet space in the kitchen for food, and it was a trivial matter to convert the pantry into a coat closet, saving a fair bit of effort and funds.
One of my Thanksgiving guests made a suggestion for the spare foyer space (below), inspired by the bookcase: make it a little reading room, with a comfy chair, an ottoman, and a reading lamp. Once the seed was planted, it was on my mind ever since...
Then, as a birthday present to myself in February 2023, I made it real:
One last added touch was a little shelf next to the front door for things like house keys, wallet and sunglasses:
The shelf came from the workstation desk, originally gaming desk, that had a pair of useless (for me) speaker shelves. Rather than throw them out, I kept them just in case I needed them for... well, for something like this.
Oh, and what the devil are all those pipe fittings below the shelf? My heart condition leaves me quite unsteady on my feet, so I installed handrails that run nearly the length of the trailer.
