Making Room for Boots
It is so fitting that I’m listening to the rain hammering outside as I write this – and just into Spring!
With our Spring (and Winter and Autumn) weather wetter than ever, a boot room - or mud room - is becoming a priority on many of our client’s wish-lists, and with reason. Children, pets, muddy weekend walks – in fact, lately, I even wear my wellies to the shops - we need somewhere to store all this necessary attire.
Boot rooms come in all shapes and sizes, and whether they are found by the front or the back doors, they have the same function: tidying away our outdoorsy things. We love being outside and we love enjoying the fresh air, but it gets muddy; boot room cabinetry confines the mess. Kind of. Leaving our kitchens and hallways boot and mud free.
Storage, storage and more storage.
The best thing about boot rooms is the storage they provide. Coming home from a lovely walk is much sweeter when it is easier to pack away shoes and coats neatly.
Under-window-bench, with under-bench shoe boxes. So neat.
Collins Bespoke’s beautiful Middle Farm Cottage boot room has also plenty of storage. With two tall cupboards for coats of many lengths, and easy-to-access shoe boxes under its seating, it is practical, making dressing to go out and come back in simple. The tongue and groove panelling make it a timeless and enduring style, which links outside with inside. Of course, being a link to the outside, tiled or hard-wearing flooring in a boot-room is also a must!
Bookends.
Open-shelving and hanging pegs.
Beautiful beaded Shaker cabinetry extends beyond the kitchen and this example, from a stunning country home in Charing, Kent, extends into the boot room. It has the tall cupboards and the linking bench with under-seat shoe stores - we love the wicker baskets - providing the necessary boot room hideaways.
It also makes use of an open-shelf and hanging pegs. Those of us who are in and out frequently know the use of a coat peg! Along with the shelf, hats and coats and leads can be easily stowed and easily reached.
We do really love this room’s polished stone floor. Hardwearing and easy to keep to clean, yet luxurious-looking.
This boot room shows how luxury can also be wholly practical.
Keeping spaces tidy.
White Shaker-style boot room tall cupboards and storage seating, at Chilmington Oaks.
Boot-rooms are perfect through-ways to the kitchen and they can be designed to fit any space. Some rooms are designed to become designated mud rooms. Others, particularly in open-plan homes, have dedicated spaces. Both function in the same way.
The under-bench storage in our Chilmington Oaks boot room is made from drawers, keeping shoes and gloves and hats out of sight. Designed to fit a linking space between the garden and the kitchen, the open oak shoe shelves are incredibly easy to access and use - any parents reading this will fully understand!
Open-shelved shoe racking, with oak interiors, at Chilmington Oaks.
Perfectly proportioned.
Boot rooms aren’t typified by their size. In fact, we have designed and made many boot ‘areas’. A bespoke boot-room cabinet makes for a perfect side entrance into a kitchen and can be worked into many spaces. Boot cupboards are all about function.
Dunbury Farm porch lobby cabinetry.
Bethersden boot cupboards.
Smarden porch cove seating and storage.
For example, our Dunbury Farm kitchen is fully open-plan. Creating a hanging and seating area within its rear porch lobby creates an easy-access space for outdoors wear, and things brought in from the garden. Its cool storage accommodates wine too!
Upon entering our Bethersden kitchen, there are tall cupboards for boots and coats. These cupboards match the kitchen but are useful in separating the entrance area from the kitchen area, being fully open plan. The rustic brick wall highlights a bit of outdoorsiness too.
And, our Smarden kitchen has, upon entering, cupboards, hanging spaces and a single seated area: one thing that is apparent about boot room spaces is seating! I am learning with each lap of the sun that this becomes more important. This boot room cabinet shows how size-efficient our cabinetry can be. It fits and is purposeful.
Being Boot Room Bold
Although mostly functional and practical, our boot rooms needn’t be any less of a room or a cupboard run to show off than our kitchens - more often than not, it is the informal introduction to a home - and we really do love our Sandhurst example. With a sink and wash area, all the necessary features a boot room requires, and linking the garden with the kitchen, this boot room’s dark yellow and brassy hardware brightens every dull day there is.
And, look closely, those elephant hangers … we love them.
So, our Boot Room musts - whether they apply to rooms for boots or spaces:
Bench-seating with under-storage.
Tall cupboards for hanging coats and umbrellas.
Hanging spaces and open shelving for easy access outdoorsy stuff.
Above all, creativity – because, in the UK, we are likely to use these rooms and spaces more than any other in our homes. Ugh, the March mud …
If you are considering adding a boot room or boot area to your home, contact us - we would love to help design something that looks beautiful and works as well.