On Thu, 29 Apr 2021 05:06:42 -0000 (UTC), Lewis
Post by LewisPost by Jerry FriedmanPost by LewisPost by Jerry Friedman...
Post by Quinn CIn my last apartment in Germany, when you entered, you found yourself in
a small rectangular room with doors going in every direction: kitchen to
the left, bathroom to the right, living room and bedroom in front of
you.
That's a common, space-saving arrangement in Germany, but not so much in
North America, in my experience.
Many North Americans think of it as a space-wasting arrangement.
Depends on where you are. In the North-East, for example, that would be
a "mud room" and would be tiled (probably, or some other non-porous easy
to clean surface) and have racks for boots, shoes, and hooks for winter
clothes.
Is that common in apartments? Though I call my place an apartment, and
it has two doors to the outside, so if we had more mud here you could
wall off a mud room.
Google mostly finds hits on that horrible Pinterest thing.
I would guess that if you have an entrance from the outside, and you
live in a region where there is a season named "mudtime" you need a
mudroom. But it's a guess. We have a very small entry way that is at a
lower level than the ground floor (one step lower) that opens onto the
front door and the door to the garage. It's too small to call it a
mudroom, and the term is not common here (though not unknown) but that is
its basic function, a place to take off wet clothes and wet shoes before
stepping into the house. It lacks a bench to sit on when changing
shoes, so it's a bit limited, but it has a open closet for coats and dog
leashes and winter boots.
Our house in Buffalo Grove IL had a mudroom. That was how it was
labeled on the floorplan, and that was the function. There was a door
leading to the garage and a door leading to the backyard and a door to
the kitchen. It's been almost 50 years since we lived in that house,
but I remember it as being about 10' by 10'. The washer and dryer was
in that room.
All of the houses in that subdivision had mudrooms, but there were
several different floorplans.
I would not be surprised, if you could find the floorplans, that most
of the new homes built in the Chicago suburban subdivisions in that
era had mudrooms.
I would not be surprised if the floorplans of the homes now being
constructed in the Chicago suburban subdivisions have a room with a
similar function, but some new term on the floorplan. "Mudroom" is
not classy enough.
The house we purchased in the Orlando suburban subdivision in 1972
(new construction) had a similar room between the garage and the
kitchen, but it was labeled "Laundry room" on the floorplan. Not so
much of a problem with mud and snow in Florida.
Incidently, that Buffalo Grove house was a three-bedroom, two bath,
ranch-style house with a full basement and we purchased it about
$27,500 before the construction was completed. We had to wait a month
before it was completed. The houses in that subdivision, built in
the early 1970s, now sell for around $300,000.
--
Tony Cooper Orlando Florida