Need help laying out laundry room!

9 years ago

We are starting drywall soon. Our laundry room has already been plumbed and electrified and I am not changing the location of the washer and dryer (or current walls). I am unsure how to use the space best. Here is the basic layout:

The room is 112" deep and 10" wide. The washer and dryer on the right hand wall. There will be a 25" cabinet to the right of the washer with a 22" utility sink. To the left of the dryer, there will be about 32" of flexible space, which I am not sure how to use. There are stairs that go up from left to right on the back portion of the room. They start about 40" off the floor, so standard base cabinets will still fit under them. At 2 feet out from the wall, they are 60" high from the pre-tiled floor. You can see them in this picture:

I would like to accommodate some basic storage in the laundry. I will need a space for vacuums, brooms, dustpans. I am considering whether I should frame in a closet either to the left of the dryer or under the stairs for these types of taller items. Or they could just be parked on the far side of the dryer, which won't look as nice. I am thinking the left hand side of the room should just be base cabinets with shelves under to store detergent, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, etc., as well as hamper storage. I would like a in-wall ironing board on the facing wall when you enter the room. Some place to hang clothes to dry would also be nice.

We are a family of five living on our family beef cattle farm. The laundry room is located in our entry from the garage and from the backyard and will have tiled floors. Any thoughts on where to put the closet (or if I should skip it) and how to best use the space? Thanks for looking!

Here is a link that might be useful: link to house plan

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Comments (5)

kentuckyhills
Original Author
9 years ago
Ha! The room is 101" wide. Not 10".
dekeoboe
9 years ago
I take it you have a top loading washer and not a front loader? The reason I say this is Electrolux is the only brand front loader where you can change the door direction to have the hinge on the right. All other front loaders have the door hinge on the left, which would mean when you open the door it would be between the washer and the dryer.

I would definitely take advantage of the space under the stairs. It would be a good place for the vacuum and other taller items.
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jdez
9 years ago
To the left of the dryer, on the short wall that has the stairs, I would put in a folding counter with one of those pull-out under counter ironing boards under it. Then you could also put a hanging rod over that counter. Then you could store all your mops/brooms in a built-in on the wall opposite the W/D. Just one idea.
Annie Deighnaugh
9 years ago
Definitely do the closet. While we have a few uppers in our laundry room we basically use the closet shelves for storing our detergents and such. And we have a separate closet for the vacuum parts and brooms and such.

We also use our laundry as a mudroom as it is the way to the garage, so we built in a bench and cubbies above.

Make sure you have enough room to use the ironing board...you probably will want it off centered on the wall so you have room to stand to one side while you're using it.

Think about using an open wire rack above maybe the hamper area so you can use that for hanging shirts and such off of hangers.
kentuckyhills
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for responding! Yes, we will have a top loader. I am thinking that framing up a small closet under the stairs will be the way to go for the vacuum and brooms, etc. The space to the left of it can be lower shelves with one set of drawers and space for hampers. To the left of the dryer, i think we can do some open shelves, or stash a drying rack or something. We can do a hanging rack on the left side of the room, maybe a single upper shelf over the washer/dryer/sink side.
I am not sure what the simplest thing will be for the door for the closet under the stairs. It will be just shy of 60" tall. Can we just cut down a regular door? I am sure our contractor can help with that question. Good point on offsetting the ironing board- I would not have thought of that. Thanks for the input!