Laundry

The laundry room has seen significant changes over the years. What used to be a spot that was shut away and ignored until it was time for chores is now a multifunctional space designed to be both beautiful and efficient.

Functionality: The Key Aspect of Laundry Room Design

While the laundry room has become a fun room to experiment with bold colors and interesting geometric tiles, you must first make the space functional, and to do so, think about the tasks that you need to complete in this space.

Sorting

Laundry begins with sorting clothes, and one solution can be as simple as a shelf or cubbies to store laundry baskets. You can also install cabinetry with built-in hampers.

Storage

When you think about the design of this room, think vertically. In addition to storing laundry items, this space can be a great area to store less-used items, such as seasonal décor, canning supplies or crafts.

Drying

Do you need to dry delicate and hand-washed items? If so, you’ll want space to line dry. The market offers nice options such as rods placed between two cabinets; retractable, wall-mounted clotheslines; and slide-out or tip-down clothes drying racks.

Folding & Ironing

Install counter space at a comfortable height (typically 36”) to minimize back strain when folding clothes. Another option is if the washer and dryer are front load, a solid surface can be added overtop to serve as a countertop. If space allows, you may consider installing a pull-out ironing board drawer.

Lighting

Never underestimate the amount of lighting you’ll need to complete tasks in this space.

Laundry Room Location Options

A laundry room that is located too far away from living and working areas such as the kitchen is inconvenient and adds even more work to laundry day. Keep the laundry room within a realistic distance of the areas of the house where you work and relax.

Near the Kitchen

If your desire is to put the laundry room near the kitchen there are pros and cons. Locating the laundry near the kitchen will allow you to keep an eye on laundry while working in the kitchen on other things. On the other hand, carrying laundry to and from bedrooms, bathrooms and linen closets may be a chore. Laundry noise adjacent to the kitchen may also not be desirable, depending on when you tend to manage the laundry.

Mudroom / Family Entrance Laundry Room

Sweaty, muddy, wet kids and or sports clothing can be easily managed without tracking through the house in this arrangement. In this case you might also want to include a shower in the mud room. This also often can work as space for your pets as well. The downside of this location is that pets and clean laundry don’t always mix well and likely this location will be far from bedroom, and linen closets.

Laundry Near the Bedrooms

A space near the bedrooms and bathrooms minimizes the carrying of laundry and puts it near where dressing and undressing takes place. The atmosphere would feel like part of the home and not just a utility space. On the other hand, if you have the sort of laundry noted in the Mudroom / Family Entrance option, dirty laundry might be messy in this portion of your home. Another concern would be noise of running laundry at night if you tend to do laundry at that time of the day.

Laundry Out of the Way

In larger custom homes, this might be an area geared towards home maintenance away from the living areas. It might also be adjacent to or a portion of the garage area. The downside of this option would be the distance required for carrying laundry to and from the rest of the home.

Where Laundry Room Design is Heading?

Only time will tell, but here are a few predictions.

Laundry appliances will be smarter and quieter. Smart home technology has already made a splash in the laundry room, and we expect that it will be even more so in the coming year as appliance manufacturers continue to find innovative ways to integrate purposeful technology to make our lives easier.

Another prediction is that laundry space is going to merge with other areas of the home. This stems from more families craving simplicity, where they don’t necessarily want more space; they just want the most functionality from the space they have. In fact, we are already seeing this in-home design with the laundry room/mudroom combo or laundry rooms with pet washing areas.

It is safe to say that the laundry room is no longer an afterthought within the home. If you are ready to discuss your new laundry space, contact us today!