How Can We Redesign Our Tiny Laundry Room? Good Question

Q: We have a tiny laundry room. It has a closet that is hopelessly dysfunctional, filled with our dog food barrel, cleaning supplies, appliance booklets, crock pot, etc. How can it be redesigned where we open it up to the ceiling and arrange it into a "WOW! What a great tiny laundry room!" The budget we've been working with is around $2K. Looking for ideas!

Sent by Harriet

Editor: First of all, we're envious that you even have a laundry room! We live in a small apartment and don't even have a washer/dryer. One day, one day...

The first thing you should ask yourself is: what purpose(s) does this room have to serve? It can't be a catch-all for everything miscellaneous. Laundry is obvious. And possibly storage for cleaning supplies, or storage for your dog's food. You decide what's important. Then everything that doesn't fit into those two or three categories should be moved out. Instructional books, cooking supplies, shoes, blankets, whatever. That's the first step.

The second step is to create clear areas for each of these. Take advantage of the wall space above and next to your washer and dryer and put in shelves up to the ceiling for all your laundry items. It is possible to have one wall hold everything you need, including a drying rack (possibly wall-mounted), table for folding clothes, and hamper (see photo below for inspiration). Are you planning on getting new appliances? If so, a front-loading energy-efficient washer or a a compact stacking washer and dryer will allow additional space for shelving and storage. Keep your laundry items together and within easy reach near your washer/dryer.

Be considerate with how you organize the closet. Again, make sure that everything in that closet serves the purpose of this room. You may want to invest in a closet organizational system—with hanging cubbies, storage cubes, boxes, etc— to really maximize the closet space.

For decorating, paint it a color you love and opt for soft lighting. Throw down a colorful, easy to clean cotton rug. Do a google search for small laundry rooms and collect images of creative storage solutions.

Lastly, if you do remove your current shelves and replace your washer/dryer, make sure to donate them to a salvage or deconstruction organization like Habitat for Humanity's ReStore or Salvage One or the Rebuilding Exchange in Chicago.

Readers, other ideas for Harriet? What are your small space laundry solutions?

Have a good question? Email us!

2nd image: Home-Designing

Comments (7)

first of all, it is far from a tiny laundry room ;) I've seen much much much smaller.

I don't have a ton of ideas other than
1) get rid of soffit over the cabinets if feasible so can put in taller cabinets
2) paint
3) I've liked plans where there is a hanging rod over the utility sink (envious that you have one!). Handy for hanging stuff to dry and it can drip right into the sink.
4) some sort of skirt around the utility sink

and while I agree that appliances manuals and crock don't belong in there, I think a laundry area is a great place to store pet stuff (esp if no mudroom).

It doesn't look like it needs $2k worth of work.

Why not start by determining a) what you have in there that doesn't need to be there, and b) what you don't have that you need.

It's just a laundry room, and it looks pretty good.

That's not a tiny laundry room, not by any measure.

First, assess what you actually *need*, i.e. use with any degree of regularity. Anything that's just being hoarded, be ruthless with, and donate to someone, or go the halfway step of boxing it up, dating the box, and donating it in a year's time if you haven't used it.

Second, consider ditching the dryer - dryers are not necessary, a folding clothes horse would do just the same job, and wouldn't use expensive electricity either. You could use the free space for stuff that's already in there, possibly another floor-to-ceiling cupboard, or maybe treat yourself to a little chest freezer (I am firmly committed to our chest freezer - allows us to cook in bulk and stash tons of individual meals).

Third, consider those brown cupboards - is that space above them just an empty wall-box? If so, tear it out, put cupboards up to the ceiling for more space, and make sure everything is in nice light bright colours.

Then feel thankful that you have a large, separate laundry room, in what I presume to be a nice spacious house.

I think a medium gray or a warm, natural medium green would be nice and calming for when you are laundering. Also, I'd resand the closet doors and stain the natural wood to the color of those lovely dark wood cabinets you have, maybe add some shelving with that same color wood.. I think that wood should be the central theme in the room. And adding a little TV in there would be cute and entertaining. Maybe new hardware for the cabinets and doors, in white (not silver), to go with the washer and dryer. As for storage or laundry baskets, there are plenty of cute and cheap wicker baskets available in the color of the cabinets that are lined with cloth that would be functional in your room. Maybe a couple lamps and plants for personality. And a big area rug! Good luck! You're lucky to have a laundry room!

Oh! And framed photographs or framed vintage posters above those cabinets would be totally cute and a focal point when you walk in the room.