One Room – mudroom
Nader Essa
Sisters Susanna Samaniego Ward and Elaina Samaniego-Myers, owners of Design 4 Corners, drew inspiration from barns rather than farmhouses for the equestrian, outdoorsy family who lives in this Rancho Sante Fe home. The design duo shares all the dirt on how to create a stylish space where you can track mud, arrange flowers, and get messy.
Overhead Illumination
The four vintage lights hanging in the mudroom (there’s also one above the
sink in the adjoining space) come from Architectural Salvage. The homeowner purchased them before the house was even built. “She found them a year before starting the build, and she said, ‘No matter what we do, we have to find a place for these lights,’” Susanna remembers. The designers had them rewired and used them as the catalyst for the industrial-vintage vibe they sought to create.
Opening Up
“We wanted the doors to be rustic but sophisticated, and started looking for something vintage and salvaged, rather than having them fabricated to look old,” Susanna explains. After scouring the internet for doors with the right aesthetic for the threshold between the mudroom and the adjacent multipurpose space, the homeowner found these in Jackson, Louisiana, through The Corbel’s online shop at thecorbel.com.
Hangups
To add elegance among the rustic elements in the space, the designers worked with Trosak Cabinets to build tailored cabinetry—and plenty of storage— in the multitasking area. They painted all the open shelving, drawers, and doors a greenish gray by Benjamin Moore called Galveston Gray. Then they installed black hardware from San Diego Hardware and hung substantial hooks to hold things like riding helmets, straps, and spurs above the built-in bench.
Ground Rules
Black and white is a color combination used in nearly every room in the house, so it made sense to continue the theme here. The designers opted for this indestructible porcelain matte tile from Bedrosians Tile & Stone. “It hides everything,” Susanna says. “It’s the perfect flooring for a mudroom— especially when the homeowners ride horses and ATVs.”
