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Every home needs a boot room (or a ‘mud room’ as the people across the pond call it) — a place to take off coats and muddy boots before you step over the threshold into the main house.
Most of us possess a porch, hallway, or utility room to sort the issues of dripping waterproofs, filthy Wellingtons, crying children and mud-caked canines.
But these are often chaotic spaces filled with scruffy trainers, old newspapers, smelly dog towels and unidentifiable keys.
Which is why there’s a need to make whatever space you have functional as well as pleasing to the eye.
Keep mud out: Every home needs a place to take off coats and muddy boots before you step over the threshold into the main house
Basics for boots
Make sure you have a boot brush and jack combo to brush off the worst of the dirt and pull off footwear outside your front or back door.
Check out the reasonably priced cast iron classic from B&Q (£17.99). A doormat is crucial outside to capture muck before you set foot inside, here’s one farmers’ buy: JVL Boston Scraper Door Mat (£14.99).
Hit the floor
The principal thing to get right is the flooring, which needs to be durable and infinitely moppable.
Flagstone flooring in country abodes is perfect. Nonslip tiles can be practical and add personality but why go to the expense when vinyl covers all bases (from £11 per square metre, B&Q)?
And if money is tight, never underestimate linoleum or rubber flooring which is even more durable.
If you only have a porch or hallway, mats are your friends. Buy ‘Stripe 85’ made in Yorkshire from recycled cotton tufts which traps 95 per cent of dirt, dust and mud and is machine washable at 30c (from £45.99, Hug at Home).
Hang on: Hallie Monogram Hook, (£16, Anthropologie)
On the walls
If you can, opt for panelling as it’s easy to clean and insulates a room, The English Panelling Company offer an array of options.
Hard-wearing paint is another good option and if there’s a space where soggy coats won’t be hung, create a splash of colour with wallpaper.
Look at House of Hackney’s exquisite Woodstock Meadows (from £140 for 2m half height) and Transylvanian-made Aquafleur by Mind the Gap (£195 for three rolls, Dowsing and Reynolds) which will effortlessly bring the natural world in, while brightening a dull wall or dark corner.
Savvy storage
For handcrafted boot rooms of dreams, visit howdens.com and artichoke-ltd.com for inspiration.
However, if bespoke joinery is out of the question consider freestanding furniture like the Hidalgo Hall Tree with coat hooks, a bench and shoe storage in one (£184.99, Wayfair).
Purchase a bench with storage such as the Chedworth Welly Locker (£330, Garden Trading) or the fabulous Chester Dove Grey Monks Bench (£650, Cotswold Company).
And for a burst of colour, select The Yellow One Shoe & Boot Bench (from £471, Original Crate Furniture).
Add Personalised Coat Hooks with a Hat Shelf, handmade from English oak (from £229, Make Me Something Special).
And overhead, a pulley drying rack made from Scandinavian pine with cast iron detail (from £89.99, Pulley Maid).
Take a stand
Store muddy boots on welly stands. The upside-down ones are good because they allow children’s wellies to dry out.
The Home and Gardens Extras Wellington Boot Stand has been designed to hold three pairs of adult Wellington boots on its taller poles, while the shorter poles can be used for walking boots or children’s wellies (£47.99).
And the gorgeous OKA Isphahan Umbrella Stand — where you can store crooks and thumb sticks too — adds a stylish note (£495).
You can never have too many boot jacks, so why not give a personalised one to a family member? (£89, makemesomethingspecial.com) and store your shoe cleaning kit in a luxury Leather Tidy Box (£125, Life of Riley).
Canine essentials
Ruff and Tumble Dog Drying Mitts (£24.95) should be at the ready in every boot room.
The Le Chameau dog bed (available in different sizes) has a scratch-resistant outer shell (£80 to £120).
Add detail with a beautiful ceramic drinking bowl for your beloved pet from William Morris At Home (£20, John Lewis)
Savings of the week: Faux plants
A faux Swiss cheese plant is £39.99 at Wayfair
House plants are the easiest way to breathe new life into an interior, but horticultural skills vary.
Some people cannot keep even the most hardy plant alive. Others are more skilled ‘plant parents’, but still like to mix and match real and fake to produce luxurious displays of greenery.
The spring sales offer some bargain ‘faux’ plants which can barely be distinguished from the genuine article.
At Argos, for example, the tall pampas grass in a woven basket has been reduced by a third to £15.
The monstera deliciosa, otherwise known as the Swiss cheese plant, continues to be fashionable.
You can find the fake version at Wayfair at £39.99, down from £42.99 (pictured).
At Marks & Spencer, you can save £24.50 on a fake yucca in a blue pot which is now £21. Have fun creating your own indoor jungle.
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