Boot room ideas, plus advice on how to do them right
Think of the boot room as the engine of any country house. It can make or break how the house functions. So it is well worth really thinking about it in advance and deciding what you need and what will work for your own home. This is, above all, a practical space. For maximum effectiveness, it needs to be a warm, dry environment. Underfloor heating is good for drying soggy dogs, and a Pulley Maid rack hung from the ceiling will allow you to keep wet clothes separated from dry ones. In some of our projects, we also like to include a heated towel rail, which is great for hanging up sodden coats. In fact, you can create a separate drying room within a boot room if you have the space to locate your boiler within it.
A giant butler’s sink is always useful for washing wellies, dogs and children. If you have the space for a double sink, all the better, as one half can be used for soaking mud-caked footwear. Remember to make sure your tap has a hose feature to wash down the sink when you are done. At home, we have invested in a Wellie Washer by James Keyser Products. It sits outside the back door and now the kids actually enjoy washing their own wellies before they come inside. It has been life changing – no more mounds of muddy boots.
Given the grunt work we expect a boot room to do, it is very important to think about what materials and finishes you use. Light-coloured floors will have you permanently brandishing a mop, so go for something darker that hides the dirt. In my own house, I have used ‘Nero Parquet’, a lovely distressed black lime-stone from Lapicida, which I have laid out in a herringbone brick formation. I think this adds an appropriate agricultural/stable vibe to the room. Cladding as much of the walls as possible in tongue-and-groove panelling, painted in an eggshell finish, is inexpensive and will offer a much more durable surface than any plastered and emulsion-painted wall.
Both in our projects and in my own home, I’ve seen the boot room used for storing DIY paraphernalia – what the comedian Michael McIntyre refers to as the ‘Man Drawer’, where light bulbs, tool kits and head torches jostle for space alongside defunct old phones. This is one of the reasons that I think drawers are always better than cupboards, where things can get lost in cobwebs at the back.
If you have the space to do otherwise, do not be tempted to combine laundry rooms and boot rooms. There is a reason that Americans tend to call boot rooms ‘mud rooms’ – laundry and dirty wellies do not mix well. Laundry rooms can be small and mighty (especially if they are un-muddied). In my own house, I wanted to save space, so I tried to have one room that performed both functions. (I have since had to submit a planning application to separate the two.)
One idea we have tried was installing a glazed screen within a shared area to separate the mud from the starch. My advice would be to give the lion’s share over to the many demands of the boot room. After all, in the country (certainly in our house), this is the space of mud-caked wellies, wet and smelly dogs, and mountains of coats. Space and storage are key.
Having had young kids in London, I know that this is not just a country thing. City parks and playgrounds can be as muddy as a country field. Obviously space is often more restricted in the city, but you can be clever and carve out a dedicated mini mud room in surprising places. We hid ours behind a magnetic door next to the stairs in the hallway. It is excellent at eating up unsightly scooters and dirty boots. Including a specific area for dog leads, endless hooks for coats and a place to store winter hats, scarves and gloves is key – we have a bench with a lift-up lid and swap the contents according to the season.
Scroll down for boot room ideas for stylish, tidy spaces to sort out your gear.
Paul Massey1/19When Caroline Riddell and her husband bought a dilapidated 16th-century Suffolk longhouse—complete with its own ghost—they set about infusing it with a fresh, welcoming charm. The entrance lobby, painted in a striking blood-red gloss, is anchored by functional details like coat hooks, hats hung above, and a wooden chair, creating a characterful space where shoes can easily be put on and taken off.
Boz Gagovski2/19With its charming period features and beautiful location in the South Downs national park, interior designer Anna Hewitson has turned this unloved cottage into a beautiful family house. In the boot room, a café curtain is from Chelsea Textiles in their ‘Tiny Stripe’ print adds a pretty touch. The seat cushion features Howe’s ‘Frude’ fabric, offering both comfort and functionality—perfect for sitting while putting on shoes, with convenient storage space tucked underneath for keeping footwear neatly out of sight.
3/19Tongue-and-groove panelling, painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Dimity’, provides a simple background for coat hooks and shelves, which house riding equipment and shoes, in this house designed by Kate Guinness.
4/19Dark green gloss paint on bespoke cupboards makes for a sophisticated boot room in this Cheshire house designed by Rita Konig. A mixture of open and closed storage means household mess can be easily tidied away.
5/19In the Wiltshire home of Renshaw and Sarah Hiscox, the boot room is painted in a sunshine yellow scumble. Stone floor links it with the outside of the house.
Paul Massey6/19After inheriting this 18th-century-style house designed by Quinlan Terry Architects in the Seventies, the owner called in her cousin Flora Soames, who has refreshed the interiors using floral fabrics and touches of rich colour to give them a more relaxed feel. In the mudroom, Pierre Frey’s ‘Le Chant de Tidore’ wallpaper and panelling in a custom green paint set off the yellow bench.
Boz Gagovski7/19For Paddy O'Donnell, the International Brand Ambassador of Farrow and Ball, the size of a boot room was an exciting opportunity to play with colour. Implementing his ethos of ‘right paint, right place,’ the small entrance hall of this 18th-century gatehouse and hotel in Wiltshire welcomes guests with the fresh forest green of Farrow & Ball's ‘Beverly'.
Simon Brown8/19This Georgian house in Hampshire designed by Henriette von Stockhausen may be filled with extravagant, antique-filled entertaining spaces, but it is still very much a family home. The case – or room – in point? The boot room, which, with bespoke Artichoke fittings, two-tiers of coat racks and even a drain, aims to keep playtime as tidy as possible.
Paul Massey9/19Rather than give it a distinct theme, for the boot room of Eildon Hall, a 19th-century property on the Scottish Borders, designer Olivia Emery continued with the blue colour palette which extends amply throughout the rest of the downstairs rooms. The elegant joinery, designed by Emery, has been painted in the smart teal tone of Benjamin Moore's ‘Newburg Green’.
Paul Massey10/19It makes sense that the boot room was a key feature of this Berkshire house, designed as a meeting place for a family with relatives across the world. Conceived by interior design studio Turner Pocock, the neutral-toned space has copious storage, with limestone tile flooring for practicality and a Fanny Shorter fabric seat cushion adding a flourish of flora and fauna.
Simon Brown11/19For the entrance hall of her family home in the Chilterns, interior designer Taline Findlater of Olive Design went on the charm offensive. On the walls above the coat hooks she has curated a selection of her children's artwork and a dried spring wreath above the kitchen door adds a perennial sense of good cheer. The clever shoe racks hang footwear upside down to keep mud firmly off the floor.
Paul Massey12/19On acquiring a generous Georgian-style house in rural Berkshire, a young London family brought in interior designer Nicola Harding to help them make their own colourful mark on their new home. The joinery in the boot room was painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Claydon Blue’ to tone with walls in ‘Oval Room Blue’.
Simon Watson13/19This multifunctional utility area has the luxury of space and natural light. Floor-to-ceiling cupboards hide unsightly objects, and a large sink with a shower mixer as well as a tap are practical tools.
14/19Cupboards finished in an easy-to-clean Fenix laminate provide streamlined storage for coats and outdoor gear in this Cotswold boot room by Pippa Paton. The built-in bench, with a colour-matched, wipeable leather cushion, is high enough for wellies to fit underneath it, while tumbled-edge limestone makes a robust flooring choice.
DERWOOD PAMPHILON15/19Forest-green tongue and groove and wall-to-wall coir matting make smart choices in this boot room designed by De Rosee Sa. ‘It’s a really inexpensive, hardwearing flooring, which no one will be worried about getting mud on,’ says co-founder Claire Sa. The space doubles as an entrance porch, so keeping the joinery to the edges allows easy passage through the central area.
16/19Emma Sims-Hilditch has packed an impressive amount into this boot room, with built-in joinery incorporating storage cubby-holes and a bench seat. The brick flooring is practical and easy to clean, while the vertical stacks of wicker baskets – used to stow hats, scarves, throws and sports equipment – help to organise the various elements. ‘We chose a palette with accents of rusty orange and green to reflect the outdoors,’ says Emma.
Owen Gale17/19Chris Graves of Clarence & Graves has built on the beautiful bones of this Victorian house in Chiswick to create a stylish family home that blends bold colour with muted elegance. The boot room at the back of the house was separated by a wall, as it originally would have been, from the drawing room. The walls are in Farrow & Ball's 'Setting Plaster', while the woodwork is in 'Arsenic'.
Jake Eastham18/19In this Cotswold boot room, interior designer Rosanna Bossom has combined built-in joinery – painted in ‘The Long Room’ by Paint & Paper Library – with an antique table to create a layered feel. The numbered hooks correspond with the bedrooms – ideal for when you have weekend guests to stay.
Tom Mannion19/19When a family decided to relocate from London to the Oxfordshire countryside, they called upon the expertise of antiques dealer and interior designer Max Rollitt to help bring their 17th-century farmhouse back to life. In this boot room, next to a large cupboard from c1860, a door leads into a cloakroom with walls in ‘Brick’ paint by Edward Bulmer.
