Design Ideas for Laundry Room Remodeling

Location

• Doing laundry has always been a chore. When the washing machine and dryer are located in an unpleasant location in the basement or off the garage, doing laundry is even more disagreeable. Homeowners today are requesting that the laundry room be located near the bedrooms, with easy access to where one changes clothes. Some locate the laundry room near the kitchen. It makes sense to locate the laundry room adjacent to a water wall--in other words, near the bathroom or kitchen, where water pipes are already run.

Planning

• Determine your laundry room needs. Most people want a minimum of four stations, one for sorting clothes and storing them until they are washed, one for actually washing and machine drying, one for folding and one for hanging or flat drying of items.

  Some people plan to make their laundry room do double or triple duty. While the clothes are in the laundry, this may also be a good time to repair them, so a sewing station may be desirable. If you normally do lots of ironing, an ironing station is also a good idea. Some people find that the laundry room is a good place to bathe pets, and for pets to sleep. Design features that will accommodate your animals.

  While you are doing all this work, you may want to add some entertainment. Many people are adding televisions in their laundry rooms.

Lighting

• Having good light is critical in a laundry area. It adds to the ambiance of the room. It also allows you to see and treat stains in a good light. Try to locate the laundry room where there is natural light and supplement it with an overall lighting plan and some attractive lighting fixtures.

Paint and Decoration

• This is a fairly private room, so feel free to really make it your own. Paint it a color you enjoy and add art to the walls. This could be a mural you paint, a series of framed photos from past vacations, family pictures or art. The goal should be to make this a pleasant place to work.

Storage

• Eliminate or hide clutter in the laundry room for a clean, inviting look. Kitchen cabinets adapt very well to the laundry room as do closet storage units. Many home improvement stores offer a wide selection of cabinets and countertops that are fairly easy for moderately talented do-it yourselfers to install. One neat trick to support a countertop is to purchase pvc pipe and paint it to blend in. Under the counter is a good place to store rolling containers to hold sorted clothes.