First of all, thanks everyone. I didn't think about the heat issue,
which I thinnk is important. Didn't think about the moisture behind
the new walls, either. Even though it's a relatively dry basement, I
need to be careful there.
I'm already over the budget that I don't have. For tiling, I'm
thinking... have an inlay. Ha... Everyone I talked to says tiling is
a hard work. I'm old enough to know that when someone says it's a lot
of work, they have toned it down already, most of the time anyhow.
This presumes that EVERY goes through the garage to come in.
Where *I* grew up, we'd walk in around the back of the house,
through a mudroom (seats, place to pull boots jackets, etc, off)
and in.
The 2 people who came in through the garage
1) were generally coming from a car so may not have been
as dressed up as we were.
2) 90% of the time were coming from work.
Course in *my* day, the kids walked everywhere. And there was snow and
mud ALL the time. And it was up hill both ways, etc, etc. 
Sure, we have a driveway that's uphill both ways.
Of course people can walk in through any door - front, rear deck, or
the garage. There is no suitable place near the rear deck entrance to
be used as a mudroom, unless we enclose the deck itself. People would
walk right into the family room, and I don't want any more mess there
than a normal(?) family room would have. I assume, however, kids will
end up going in and out through the deck during the summer and nice
weather seasons, so the basement mudroom will mostly be used in foul
weather and winter. I guess I neglected to mention that in the
original posting. Even during warm weather, however, I want a central
place to find coats/boots/sandals/etc/etc. Unless there is such a
place, the chaos theory will prevail, and you know the rest of the
story.
I'm used to having mess in the house, but we recently went through the
process of selling our place, which meant having an open house. What
an eye opening event - we ended up making our place look like
something out of a magazine, and I'm not kidding. It meant living
neatly for a couple of weeks till open house/inspectin/contract was
over, and now I know it is possible to keep the place neat and
practical at the same time.
If it's a place that's comfortable to stop in, big enough to get
by when the kid is debooted and dealing with their crap, then it
can work. I've seen many that were just wide halls and stuff was
always in the way.
Exactly my point. I want the mudroom to be big enough, not just a
narrow hallway, where even with 2/3 kids are sitting on the bench and
boots tossed about, others can get by without being tripped
everywhere. Now I'm thinking maybe there should be a swing door that
can hide the messy coat/hook area when not used. It'll have to be
custom, the more I think of it. Only if I owned a table saw... may
I'll rent one.
I think the area is big enough for that, and with warm and bright
colors either on the concret walls (as someone suggested) or on new
walls, it'll be cozy enough to make it not just functional, but also
an attractive feature at resale. (Funny enough, I've seen enough
houses/renovations to now think of resale even before we move in.)
Now I'm sold on having a floor drain and a sink as well. I need a
second job, of course.
A side note - how many times do you see or hear of people, after
seeing a potential new house, say - I really liked *insert any minor
feature* about that house, be it an hobby bench that'll be removed,
kids swing set, cute decoration in a baby room, etc. It's amazing
that people look at decoration/arrangement much more than they should.
Even to *me*, a seller, the new arrangement made the place look worth
more than before.
So, in summary, I'm still planning to have a mudroom in the basement,
but have a few more features - heat, drain/sink, cabinet door to close
it up, a la closet doors. A lot of money and/or work, it sounds like,
but it can be fun.
I'll post another thread when I get down into details. Hope I can
post a crude version of the blueprint and solicit feedback.
Thanks again, everyone.