Functionality: No Mud Room? Create an Organization Station

An organization station can provide a home for your daily clutter.

The kitchen is the point of entry for most homes. For those of us without mudrooms, this means the kitchen becomes the default dumping ground for jackets, shoes, hats, book bags, and purses. If you don't have space to create a mudroom or closet, a custom organization station can be a highly functional, unobtrusive alternative.

Taking just a few linear feet of space, an organization station can be custom-designed to your kitchen's footprint and tailored to your family's unique needs. In some instances, the station can be fully or partially recessed into a wall to keep walkways clear.

For the best results, give each family member a dedicated coat hook, bag cubby, and drawer. Use shelves above the coat hooks to stow items to which your kids don't need access - this can be a good place for purses, briefcases, and laptop bags. If you have space, create cubbyholes for shoes.

Add style to function by choosing a color or finish that complement your main cabinetry. I'm personally a fan of light-colored neutrals. While white paint may seem like a good fit, look into light grays and taupes as an alternative to help hide dirt and mud brought in on shoes. The back panel can add visual interest - I'm a big fan of the bead board used in this example. Have fun with drawer pulls and coat hooks; you can carry over hardware similar to what's used elsewhere in your kitchen, or you can treat this unit as a piece of standalone furniture and mix up the look. A standard base cabinet toe kick is perfectly sufficient, but swapping in furniture legs may give the unit more presence.