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muskokascp_gw

Help me design my laundry / mudroom

muskokascp
12 years ago

I would love some thoughts on planning out the laundry room. It's not a huge room but it is larger than it was before the renovation. It used to be quite narrow and just opening the washer and dryer doors pushed you up against the wall. Originally the W/D were on the right side where there is still plumbing for a sink.

Our house does not have a mudroom and the kids have a habit of walking in the front door and dropping their coats, backpacks and coats all in a puddle. Teenagers...

My wish list:

1) add cubbies for the kids to hang coats and backpacks

2) sink

3) folding station and a place to hang clothes to dry - I currently fold in the family room, hang clothes on a folding clothes rack in my bedroom and iron in my bedroom. It seems there is always laundry in my bedroom in various stages of completion. I dearly want to reclaim our master from laundry! If I continue to use a folding clothes rack I would need a place to stash it in the laundry room when not in use. I would like some upper cabinets for storage somewhere in the room as well.

The hook up for the W/D is on the left wall..should I stack these so the counter under the windows can run from wall to wall? The sink hook up is on the right wall and I believe the position is still somewhat flexible as the wall is not entirely drywalled in yet.

I have looked at tons of laundry room pics on Houzz and elsewhere. .. now I just need to pull all the elements together.

TIA.


Comments (12)

  • mydreamhome
    12 years ago

    After looking at your dimensions, I think you should definitely stack the W/D. You are missing being able to run the countertop from wall to wall under the windows and have the W/D side by side by mere inches. By stacking the W/D you also gain more folding space as well as storage space. I worked up a layout for you. See what you think...

  • dalmadarling
    12 years ago

    I am a pictures person - you can get some great ideas on Houzz! https://www.houzz.com/photos/laundry-room-ideas-phbr0-bp~t_753-room

    Here is a link that might be useful: [Laundry Room Design Photos[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/laundry-room-ideas-phbr0-bp~t_753)

  • muskokascp
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanks mydreamhome. How much room do we need for the W/D to sit side by side? They are 27" wide each. I often walk into the laundry room and toss dirty laundry in so I do need a hamper of sorts - if they can go side by side I could have a small basket on top of them for this purpose. Also need a garbage but it could go inside a lower cabinet. I had not thought of putting a broom type closet in because I have a broom closet just outside the laundry in the hall. I like the idea though of a floor to ceiling pantry style closet with shelves and maybe the wooden folding clothes rack could slide in here too. Love the sink in the corner too - I was heading in that direction myself but it is nice to have the idea validated.

    One thing I thought I might do is leave some open shelves in the lower cabinets under the window to hold a basket or two for folded clean laundry that is ready to be taken upstairs.

  • mydreamhome
    12 years ago

    You'd probably want to leave an inch on either side of the pair and an inch between them just to be on the safe side. The standard model they give me on the layout program is 30" wide, so with those dimensions side by side is a no go. With your dimensions and adding the 3" of wiggle room, that would put you right up against the 24" deep countertop running under the windows. So it could be done, but you are pretty much locked in to that size washer and dryer from then on.

    I like the idea of putting the rack in the pantry style closet--that's what my mom does with hers. Another thought is to do pullout hampers. We are doing 3 sets of them. They are actually tall trash pullouts, but they will allow the kids to go ahead and sort their clothes when they bring them in to the laundry room & I can just load them in the washer. I like the idea of the shelves for the clean clothes baskets too. We did the corner sink and it looks great. We used a single basin stainless undermount large D-shaped sink. You would not believe the space in there and I don't have to worry about it staining or yellowing or cracking like alot of the "laundry sinks" out there. I've attached an 'under construction" pic for you of our countertop & sink.

    I don't have time right now, but I'll work on some elevations for you with some additional ideas.

  • mydreamhome
    12 years ago

    Ok, got some elevations together. 2 things I noticed from the elevations of the W/D wall--the stacked unit takes away potential for an additional set of upper cabinets on that wall but allows for an additional base set, it also gives more fully usable folding space than the side by side option. The side by side option gives you the option of raising the front loaders up to a level where you don't strain your back by building a platform or using the matching appliance base, however the counter area between the dryer and the wall is not an easy access space--you could probably stack clean folded clothes there or store your detergent bottles there, though. How do these look to you?

  • muskokascp
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    The elevations are wonderful! Thank you so much. I honestly can't decide which way to go with the W/D. I think this weekend I will have to take some time in there and mock up the ideas and see what works best for us. One question with the corner sink - how much room would I need between the sink and the tall cupboard so that I won't feel cramped/boxed in by the floor to ceiling cabinet on that side? If my calculations are correct I think you have about 14" - that should be OK? I have never worked at a corner sink before so it's hard to visualize the feel.

    The hamper pull outs are a great feature (if I could convince my kids to actually bring their laundry downstairs and sort it!) I will certainly incorporate at least one of these hampers ( for me cause I know I will use it) I struggle with having an open shelf for a basket vs closed storage. We do not have a ton of storage in the house so having this as a utility room of sorts is appealing too.

    Your laundry room looks great! A view of the corner sink is so helpful.

  • mydreamhome
    12 years ago

    Good catch on the space between the sink & tall cupboard! 14" is what I have drawn there. What I'll do is put up a temporary partition on mine that would be the same spacing as what's drawn when I go out to the house tomorrow & test it out for you. My guess is, you would want a little more room, so you could reduce the size of the cupboard or the cubbies by 6", or reduce both by 3". Note, too that the sink that's currently specced on the layout is 2' wide--yours could be skinnier. My corner sink is 21 1/4" wide on the interior. I've modified the layout for you below...I reduced the cubby length by the 6" & changed the sink width to 21".

  • muskokascp
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    mydreamhome - I don't want to bug, but did you try your laundry room with the closer partition? The other option would be to put the full height closet beside the stacked W/D and a counter and upper beside the sink. This would make the corner sink feel less confined. I would lose the hamper beside the washer and some counter space but there is ample counter space under the windows. I suppose a hamper could live in the lower part of the full height cabinet.

  • mydreamhome
    12 years ago

    Sorry for the delay in getting back to you muskokascp--the moving process has been long & drawn out, but we're finally in. I put a large box in place on my counter at the correct depth in several positions. The 14" from the corner in the original layout I did is too tight for comfort. It will work, but it's tight. I gradually moved the box over and came up with 19" as the minimum you would need from the corner for comfortably utilizing the sink (I thought it was very roomy). If you're cutting the corner as shown in the 2nd layout (and what's in my laundry) simply plan the measurement based on where a 90 degree corner would be. Shortening the cubbies by 6" as shown in the 2nd layout would give you 20" clearance from a 90 degree corner & plenty of work space/elbow room in the sink area. You should have right at about 1' of counter space between the bottom right corner of the sink & the tall closet with that layout scenario. Here's a photo with the box at 19" from the 90 degree corner to give you an idea:

  • livebetter
    12 years ago

    @mydreamhome, nice faucet! Can I ask what brand/model it is? Is it a pull down?

    Great laundry room (love those simple Shaker cabinets).

  • mydreamhome
    12 years ago

    livebetter- Sorry for the late reply--the faucet is the Delta Allora in the stainless finish. I didn't like the soap dispenser it came with so I replaced it with the Luxart Model# CSD in brushed nickel. I'll see if I can get abetter pic posted for you later today. Hope this helps!

  • lisa_a
    12 years ago

    Nice plan, mydreamhome!

    muskokascp, if you're concerned about elbow room to the right of the sink, you could do a shallower pantry closet, say 12" or 15" deep instead of 24". Or make it the same depth as the cubby storage for a nice visual from the door.

    Can you change the swing door to a pocket door? We have our shoe bench right next to a swing door, just as the above plan shows, and it gets to be tight quarters when someone opens the door when someone else is standing right there. If your door stays open almost all the time, it's not as much of a concern, of course.

    Oh, and 1" clearance on each side of the washer and dryer, stacked or not, is correct. Clearances behind and above varies from manufacturer to manufacturer so check specs for your machines but per my research (I'm redoing our laundry room/mudroom, too) side to side clearances seem to be standard across the board.