Here in coastal North Carolina, beaches and beach houses are our bread and butter. In Wilmington, we’re smack-dab in the middle of Kure Beach, Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach, and Topsail Beach. It’s no surprise that a great many of the homeowners we work with have beach houses. But we have a tricky interior design question for you: What’s the beach house equivalent of a mudroom?
Considering the fact that the beach house caters to the outdoors, we’ve always thought it strange that the beach house entryway never got its own name. It’s not a mudroom, exactly. Should we call it a sand-room?
Beach House Entry vs. Mudroom: What’s the Difference?
Designing and organizing a good beach house entrance is a little different than designing a mudroom. Yes, the basic function is the same: You need a place to take off your dirty shoes before you track dirt or sand into the house.
But at a beach house, you also want your mudroom/sand-room to be a place where you can store damp towels, wet swimsuits, beach toys, surfboards, and other beach-specific items. Plus, there’s the simple fact that mud and sand are two entirely different things—and sand is a lot easier to accidentally track in to the rest of the house, even after your shoes are off!
What Features Does a Beach House Entryway Need?
- Cubbies. Cubbies are hands-down the most important piece of a mudroom/sand-room. They’re the perfect individual storage unit. You can organize them by item, or give each guest or family member a cubby of their own.
- Hooks. Wet bathing suits, wet towels, sandy tote bags. These are items that more often than not end up tossed on the floor, especially if there are kids around. But with a good set of hooks, you can avoid damp floors and mildewed, sandy swimsuits (and save yourself that awful next-day feeling of struggling into a still-damp suit).
- Bench or drawers. In addition to providing a place to sit while you take off your shoes, you can get a bench that comes with interior storage space. That way, you have a designated place for all the kids’ beach toys. On non-beach days, you won’t even know they’re there!
- An indoor/outdoor rug. There’s nothing worse than tracking sand into the house. Once it’s inside, sand is nearly impossible to get out—you’ll be finding it on your floors for months and months. With an indoor/outdoor rug, you can catch sand easily, and when it’s time to clean up, you can just take the rug outside to shake it off.
- Shoe racks. Keep your walkway free of clutter with a quality shoe rack. The kids will never lose their shoes, and you’ll be safe from endlessly sweeping sand out the door.
If it’s time to turn your beach house entry into the perfect sand-room, look no further than Strickland’s Home! Visit our design center today to see our products and learn more about how we can help you.