For me, just the idea of wrestling with the ironing board is enough to put me off even starting a load of laundry. What if doing laundry was no longer a tiresome, irritating chore? What if your laundry room was easy to clean, perfectly organized, and was actually a place that you WANTED to spend time in?
I am here to tell you it can be! This blog will show you a number of ways to make it so.
My whole design philosophy is that all spaces should not only be beautiful, but functional and organized as well. The laundry room can often be the most chaotic, disorganized area in your house with a hundred mismatched socks floating around, detergent grains spilled all over the place, and lint balls creating their own colony in the corners.
The first thing you need to do is invest in some gorgeous new FRONT LOADING washers and dryers. The reason I am so focussed on front loading is that if they are both on the ground it gives you a huge new space ABOVE them that you can now use for storage, counter space for folding and sorting – whatever your heart desires!
Front Loading Washer/Dryers
Sick of playing around with ironing boards and drying racks? Build them into your laundry room so that all you have to do is pull them down (from the cupboard/wall) or pull them out (from a drawer)
Pull Out Drying Rack
Drop Down Ironing Board
Pull Out Ironing Board
I am all for a white laundry room (with white marble or porcelain tiles) with accents of colour to increase that crisp and clean feeling. However, if you want to integrate that cozy homey feeling from the rest of the house into the laundry room check out wood tiles! These are actually porcelain tiles that are made to look like wood. They will give you that cozy, non-sterile feel while still being completely functional if there are water or soap spills.
There are tiles out there now that would even fool the most discerning designer. Check out Cera Gres for some great options. http://ceragres.ca
Laundry Room With “Wood” Tiled Floor
Invest in a farmer sink! These wonderful porcelain or fireclay ‘apron’ sinks are not only huge and practical, but they are stunning as well! Because they were widely used in the 1800’s they have that wonderful vintage look that is so much more appealing than the typical industrial sink.
Farmer Sink
For that pretty and sweet look, utilize differing sizes and shapes of apothecary jars to store items like detergent, dryer sheets and clothing pins. These can be displayed on your new counter!
If you have room add a large central high table with stools. This can be an extra area for folding, sorting and mending.
Laundry Room with Apothecary Jar Storage and Central High Table
What about adding something that will help you keep entertained while ironing? Add an ipod docking station! We can even go one step further and have it built into the tiled wall.
Built-in iPod Docking Station
This laundry room is enough to make me smile for a week. It is so crisp, beautiful and loaded with stunning design features!
The crowning glory of this space though is definitely the salvaged windows. This only goes to show that even a laundry room can be a gorgeous place that you won’t have any problem spending time in – despite its less than wonderful purpose.
