Our Under The Stairs MudRoom

Do you have a space under your stairs?? We turned ours into the mudroom!
In today’s post I’m sharing all the budget friendly details!
It’s easier to manage five kids when things are functional and everything has a place!
We have a new system up for the kids’ chore charts, open bins for easy shoe sorting and more!
I didn’t want to do a huge makeover because it’s..under the stairs..haha…
but I wanted to put some things in place to use it better!

First thing I did was put a lighter color up on the walls so it didn’t feel so dark.
It was a very dark grey…and I used some leftover paint we had from our room. (Revere Pewter)
To make it not seem so small we hung up a mirror we already had. (from Walmart!)
The Opalhouse rug I got on clearance from Target. ($30!)

Here’s the closet door by the stairs.
It’s been handy being able to tuck away all the shoe crazy in there!

I knew we needed a better shoe system. I liked the idea of open bins…no kids having to pull out drawers!
I wanted the kids to be able to easily see what bin is their’s and the shoes they needed.
The bins are from Target and I got pink for the girls and white for the boys.
I also wanted to make it a little easier for Hunter(2) to help with putting shoes away.
So I rounded up some plastic IKEA frames we already had….took photos of the kids and hung them above their shoe basket.
I snapped the photos with my phone and edited them in snapseed app….then airbrush. (I took the photos in front of a white door and then used airbrush’s erase tool to make background all white!)
Hunter’s chore (2 year old) is to put the shoes away and he goes to find their photo so he knows what bin to use! I think it helps all the kids.

On school mornings I found it easiest for the kids to be able to grab their socks right by their shoes.
So I used a storage bin to sort them: little socks (hunter and soon to be baby), big boy socks and girl socks.
This is the one I got but in white – in store.

On school mornings I always give the big boys their clothes to wear. (The girls do this themselves) I wanted to try and take away that one task in the morning once baby 6 arrives… I’ll be up and helping but probably nursing on the sofa! So I got two over the door shoe organizers from Walmart. Cut them in half so they were the size I wanted with the hooks at the top. I labeled them for the boys school day clothes. Example: Monday Top, Monday Bottoms. Boy clothes can roll up pretty small.. especially as it warms up here! They always bring a hoodie with them to school but in these spots they’l grab their shirt..and then their pants/underwear. My plan is to put the 5 outfits each into the spots on Sundays….so then I don’t have to think about it on school mornings!
Asher doesn’t have to rush out as early in the am, only goes 3 days a week and can’t read just yet haha…so I’ll have to help him…but I’m happy to have it all planned out for him too.

I already had the Dream Big Letters from years ago. I got them on sale at Michaels and knew I would one day find a spot for them!
The ‘Full of Thanks’ sign was a gift from a friend and I love it there… a good reminder!
I also put an air freshener in the space because….shoes. haha.

CHORE CHARTS!
So every day I write out what the kids chores are. They usually have certain ones every time (example: Micah always brings down the laundry hampers from the bathrooms.) But I like to change it up depending on what we need to focus on. The boards themselves are dry erase calendars from Walmart. I could’t find them online to link but check your local store! I think they were $8?? Sophia had the idea to stagger them when I was hanging them up. Hunter and Asher share the bottom one….but really it’s Asher’s.

I hope this post was helpful if you are looking to get a little more organized in this area!
It’s not a picture perfect space but it’s functional and was EASY to put together!

We are down to a few weeks before Baby 6 is due!!
Some may call this nesting….. ;)
I knew it was going down when I came home with a label machine! haha.