It's a good sized space but like many laundry/utility spaces, it has a mishmash of different ceiling heights, lots of pipes and wires and ducts, and will be a challenge to reconfigure.

The photo below is more recent and as you can see, not much has changed in the last five years. We bought a new washer and dryer (the same models we used in our old laundry room. Love them and haven't had any issues.) and added a folding table and rack for our paint supplies. The folding table and the treadmill have since changed spaces (thanks pandemic for giving me a reason to use the treadmill more often!) but this side of the room is still as haphazard and piecemeal as it looks here.

Laundry Room Design Ideas

I'll be honest and say that we haven't been really motivated to do any home projects lately. The delay in supply chains and inventory shortages and the bigger issues going on in the world have kind of drained our collective energy. But, spring is just around the corner so it will be good to start something fresh and new.

But first we have to figure out the layout. Can you spot the one thing that won't be changing?

That's our laundry chute! It's connected from the vanity in our main bathroom on the second floor of our home, to the powder room on our main floor, and down to this laundry room here in the basement. We didn't even realize there was a chute when we bought our house, but it's become one of our favourite features in our home.

I bought a rolling Steele Canvas Laundry Bin and two matching Steele Canvas Bushel Baskets years ago in anticipation of renovating this room someday. It'll be exciting to put together the ideas I've been gathering and make them a reality.

So where do we start? We start with inspiration. Here's a few of my laundry room must-haves:

Let's start with that rolling cart. It needs to have a permanent home. Most of the time, it will be sitting out in the middle of the room, ready to catch falling laundry, but it should also have a place to be tucked away beneath a counter.

I'd also like cubbies to store the bushel baskets. We use those baskets to bring the folded laundry back upstairs. It would be nice to have our laundry baskets displayed nicely when not in use.

The room above designed by Studio McGee is similar to what I want to create. The flooring continues right into these "storage garages" and allows the carts to move freely. 

I like how they've incorporated a drawer above for additional storage and to keep that line consistent with the cabinets beneath the window. That horizontal line helps keep your eye moving around the room, which is what you want in small rooms like laundry rooms tend to be.

The laundry room should also have space to air dry items. That could be via a hanging rod or a drying rack, perhaps fold down and attached to a wall. In this room, the island provides a drying room on the wire shelf and also adds extra counter and storage space.

Here's the hanging rod solution we used in our old galley style laundry room. We placed a closet rod in between two Ikea upper cabinets sitting on the countertop. The mirror behind the rod also helped to visually expand the space and make it feel larger than it was.

Laundry rooms can feel very sterile and small details like floating shelving, texture on the walls, and storage hooks or a peg rail can add character and interest.

I love the warm, utilitarian feel of this room. The repetition of the pegs and shelving helps the room feel cohesive and well thought out. It's nice to be able to display pretty things too, from a well-designed dustpan to attractive tea towels.

Attractive and durable flooring is also on my list of must haves. We have to level the floor first and then I anticipate we'll cover the floor with a tile or vinyl product. Laundry rooms are wet spaces so we'll need something that is comfortable to stand on (why does folding laundry take so long??) and can stand up to spills.