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Laundry Room Reveal Pt 1

by - Sunday, November 18, 2012

Are you all ready for a laundry room reveal? I know I am, finally! Before we embarked on the basement renovation, we weren't too dissatisfied with our laundry room: it was large, it wasn't too creepy, we didn't have to rewash clothes if they fell on the floor, and it even had a sink.

 

This was the Before. Pretty typical for a laundry room in an older home - which begs the question, why are so many of us satisfied with having mediocre laundry spaces? Why can't they be more comfortable and rooms we actually enjoy spending time in?

The plan was to do just that, make the room pretty and efficient. We don't live in a large house so we really had to make this oversized space multifunctional. The green tape marked the walking area for the new smaller laundry room. Basically, we'd split the existing rectangular room in two to create an L-shaped storage room on the outside wrapped around a galley style laundry room on the inside. You can see our plans here (that we drew up two years ago! Geez, we're slow). One more look at the laundry room from the hallway...


and the same view now...

Left side view
Right side view
We have so much function and storage packed into this little room now! On the left side, we have the sink and laundry machines. You can how the stainless steel countertops and the glass tile backsplash we installed are really reflective and make the room light and bright. Oh, and there's also the TV which HandyMan just had to have and which, in hindsight, I have to admit is pretty awesome. Folding laundry just flies by now :)



 
The cabinetry is all Ikea kitchen cabinets. Seriously, so easy to install and perfect for small spaces. We made the cabinets look more built-in through the use of filler panels.  We debated whether to raise the sink to the height of the countertop over the machines but I'm really glad we kept it dropped. Its a more comfortable height and since its tucked back, it makes the entry feel a bit more spacious.




A few other details which make this room happy... the Jar of Lost Socks and Jar of Found Coins sitting on the countertop, a prettified ironing board (held up with an Ikea towel hook!), and the Laundry decal which always makes me smile.

The view from the other end of the room.
The right side of the room is all about storage, storage, and more storage. We put a bank of Ikea pot drawers from one wall to the other. There are so many that I actually have some empty drawers right now! I love having that problem.



On top of the countertop, we put even more kitchen cabinets. One stores household supplies and the other one holds pantry items. We also hung some hooks to hold a hand towel (handy after washing up at the sink), and our reusable grocery bags (which never seemed to have a home. Now they do!)



We actually had just enough leftover handles from our kitchen renovation and used them on the cabinets. Love love love them still (they're the Studio line from Hickory Hardware) - even though Chloe thinks they are like rock-climbing steps and tries to climb up them. Ah, 3 year olds!! Other fun stuff: my laundry symbol art and the Nuheat in-floor heating thermostat. Yes, the laundry room floor is heated. Don't go hatin' now ;)

But one of my other favourite room features is the mirror and rod...


I knew we had to put a rod somewhere for hang dry items and this location just made sense. And the mirror, two reasons for that: 1. It visually expands the small laundry room, and 2. Its great to have for last minute outfit checks. Just iron your shirt, see how it looks in the mirror, and go!

So that's it. Our little laundry room that packs a big punch. I'll be writing another post showing more of the details and sources and some of our lessons learned, but if you have specific questions, leave them in the comments and I'll be sure to answer them.

  
Is it too early to be making predictions for 2013? Because I'm calling this one... the laundry room is the new kitchen. How else to explain that I want to hang out in this room, even when there's no laundry to be done :). 

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