Mudrooms are the best – and worst – room in the house. The problem & the perfet-ness is that they are so darn useful. Here on the farm, we have alot of mud, snow and other dirty stuff that gets tracked into the house for about 9 months of the year! It is good to have one room for all those muddy boots, coats, hats, gloves and scarves.

January 2013

April 2013

I took those two pictures standing right outside of the mudroom. The barnyard and this house literally are in the exact same space. There is no buffer zone. Not much grassy yard. You can imagine how the snow and mud end up inside!

I think all mudrooms or entryways are a bit troublesome – they are always, always, always dirty. I’m sure any Mama out there can relate.

Painting

Enough about that though, lets talk about this green. I decided to give this wall a new color.

I used Pantone Spring 2013 Colors for my color choice again, just like in the kitchen. This time I’m using Dusk Blue. Hopefully this color with complement the kitchen cabinets, with out being too matchy-matchy. Lord knows we can’t be match-matchy. That just won’t do.

For this project I needed: painters tape, one quart semi-gloss paint, a brush and painting clothes (previously ruined during the kitchen cabinet ordeal).

I have learned with my DIY projects – I need to have goals. It helps me stay motivated. I promised myself I wouldn’t hang this sign my friend Lucy mailed me until the painting was done.

I love the sign, but since I put it up we have gotten over a foot of snow. Maybe I was jumping the gun? It just started snowing again. It looks like Christmas outside. Although it is still snowing, we do have a nice blue wall that is finished.

You might be wondering – why are three walls of this room brown paneling? And, why does one wall of this room look like the outside of the house? Well, the wall I painted blue used to be the outside of the house. This room is technically called a leanto. Fancier folks might call it an addition. This room and the bathroom were added on after the original house was built. Leanto is a country person word. But, it is a specific word with a real definition. A leanto is a structure with only 3 new walls. The three new walls are “leaned” or built onto a previously standing building. The original building is the fourth wall. Hence the name: leanto. They leaned-it-onto-the-house. Here is the previous look of the house before the mudroom & bathroom “leaned” on. There were two doors into the house.

I think these “country” words are fun because of how they end up used in context. For example, the barn outside the house has a leanto as well. See the 3 tin-covered walls sorta leaning on the original barn? That’s another example of a leanto.

John often comes into the house and says, “I put two pairs in the leanto.” In this case, if you don’t know what a leanto is or where it is located then you are quite out of luck. Also, a “pair” in this sentence is not a pair of socks. Or, a pair of spades. It is a Momma cow and a baby calf. Together, farm folks call them a “pair.”

So folks, here’s the happy pair in the leanto. We put them inside because it is cold out there and that is no place for a newborn baby calf to be!

The word leanto makes me laugh because it is a word some people are totally familiar with and others may have never heard. I realize this word is not first-class humor. Today, it seemed pretty funny to me. But, maybe that’s because I am getting a little delirious on account of all this snow. Everything is comical when it is still snowing on April 18th. At this point, what else can you do except smile?

Thanks for reading! Sierra Shea