Carol ~ Sorry I'm late to reply, but I've been outside gardening all weekend....I'm up to my ears in lettuce! Our laundry room is basically a 6' wide laundry closet that houses our front-load washer and dryer. It also stores my mops, brooms, and dustmops, and has a shelf that stores my laundry detergent and paper goods. I have a shade that I've secured to the ceiling with hooks which can be rolled down a ways to cover the storage shelf when we're entertaining and using the closet as a serving area. For everyday use the shade is kept rolled up so I can access my laundry supplies. I use a pretty tablecloth or piece of fabric to cover the top and front of the machines and use that as a buffet. I don't have any pictures of the roll-down shade handy, but I will take some this weekend and post them to my Photobucket album. Stay tuned....and please don't cry. Can you post a picture of the space? Maybe we can suggest something that will work for you. I'm not sure if the roll-down shade will be convenient if the doors are open all the time because then you'd have to roll it updownupdownupdown each time you wanted to get what you need. I'm thinking maybe a curtain instead. You could just reach up under the fabric to get what you need. Am I making sense (sometimes I confuse myself LOL).

Mrsmarv - thank you so much for answering my query. My digicam is out on loan, so no pic right now. I will take a 35mm and show it later. I find it hard to describe......

My FL W&D are side by side with a narrow plastic 3-drawer thing between that is my "junk drawer". That space results from the side vent on the dryer, which runs from floor level up to the ceiling and and across the wall held up by 2 plastic hooks, then down to the outward vent. I'm going to have that rerouted as well. The space isn't deep enough for rear vent.

I have a wire shelf above the washer for kitchen towels and some laundry stuff etc. and a narrow wire shelf on a wall for more stuff, and a TV tray to the left of the washer for soap, bleach, etc. Maybe I need to weed out my stuff ;-) There's about 10 inches open on the right side and about a foot and 1/2 on the left side.

I took everything out of the room except the W&D, and with a flashlight, discovered that there are some open spaces which let cold air in that I wasn't aware of. There is that spray on foam goo on the seams above that the GC did when we complained it was cold (I was at work or he wouldn't have left the house alive after that mess). By then, we were so disgusted with him, we didn't want him in the house for anything else. When we take the W&D out, I am going to see to it that every single space is securely grouted, sealed, stuffed and done properly. Then I will paint, maybe put up a couple of pictures, and hope it will be more presentable and I'll be able to use it as you do yours for buffet.

Thank you again for responding and I look forward to a picture of yours.....

Carol

Carol ~ I can understand your frustration with a job poorly done. Would it be better to sheetrock, tape and caulk (and then paint) the entire closet area? I would think that exposure to adverse temperatures can't be good for your washer and dryer, not to mention letting cold (or hot, humid) air in to your house. Just a thought.

mrsmarv - It is sheetrocked and taped, so this isn't really a big project in that respect. Just lots of gaps. I did take some pics and will send them off to be developed and later to post. Pretty grim.....

I kept a thermometer in there and the temps never got below 50, so I think the W&D are OK. However, that cold air just rushed out the bottom of the bifolds onto my feet. We sit in the DR most of the time (I don't know why; just by default and DH is more comfortable there :-(.

I think I will haul out my sewing machine and hang panels on rings on a pole running from side to side instead of a rolldown. Then I can just keep them open until it's time to make it look like a real area!!!

Carol

The panel on a pole idea sounds perfect. Just another thought...how about installing wainscoting paneling over the sheetrock. I thought about doing that in mine becuase it would really doll up the closet and look much nicer. In your case, it would close the gaps and make it less drafty ;o)

I never thought about paneling; I'll keep it in mind and see how it is when he gets going (supposed to be here at 9 today). He lives in an almost identical house, built by the same builder in the 70s, so is familiar with the idiosyncrasies, which are many! If he can get it pretty well sealed, I think I'll paint. We also have what may become extensive work to be done on an upstairs shower leak, so I'm trying to keep labor cost down.

I decided on Olympic Oak Cask; its a medium gold, very subdued, but plenty of color to contrast the white appliances. I don't think I'll have any problem finding fabric to use.

Thanks again for your input. I'll have 'before' pics in a few days.

I also have a WD open to the kitchen. It does have it's own area, but still seen. Mine is stacked. The area was truely ugly with the water heater on one side. It now has two tall cupboards on each side of the WD.

The cabinet for the water heater is open in the back for air flow, but has doors. I put small shelf units inside the very front of the top two, they are from two bathroom medicine cabinets and store all the cleaning stuff there. The bottom door allows access to the WH.

The other side cabinet is built shallow enough for the dryer vent and hookups in back, but still lots of storage for laundry needs. I still need to make one cabinet door drop down for a folding table. All looks similar to a TV cabinet wall.

None of the above was expensive, I bought nice, but used, pantry cabinets/doors from Habitat Store and painted to match wall color. Shared this as I feel it also helps with insulation, including reducing added heat into the kitchen from dryer, sound proofing and hiding plumbing, etc.

Still want to hide the WD, even though it is a beautiful set. I like your idea about the curtains. Have seen some good ideas on the decorating HG site using such. One used a formica panel cut the size of the WD top for a folding table with curtains attached to the edges. Another idea I saw was using ceiling high doors which hang from barn door hardware and are easily opened compared to folding doors or ones on tracks.

It's amazing what wonderful ideas we all come up with when the need arises. Smaller spaces really necessitate the ability to be creative, innovative, and flexible.

Well, it looks better already! The dryer vent wasn't even connected properly so there was lint all over the inside of the dryer at the bottom. No wonder I smelled singeing once in awhile!!!!!!

Our guy suggested a 72" cupboard above the W&D, so we are going ahead with that. Heaven knows, I can use the storage space. I'm going to cull out a lot of various types of towels, hand, dish, etc. that I kept on the wire shelf. I also need to do the same with bath towels. That's an area I haven't visited for quite awhile, but the "organizing" forum gave me the nudge.

I'm off to paint now.

Carol

Finally, developed "before" pic and new digicam "after". Thank you again for all of your suggestions and support. I looked for some pretty knobs but didn't find anything I really liked, especially at around $4-$5 (boy, am I out of the loop). So I bought some that look like hammered wrought iron for 57 cents each and spray painted them with some wine red paint I had. I'm looking for a couple of laundry pics to hang up. But for now I had fun filling the cabinets :-)

Carol

Before - lousy composite pic but you get the idea.....

After :-)

Carol,

Your area turned out great. I bet you are so glad to have all done and really pleased with yourself. Fun to see the before/after and how other's resolve their spaces.

The routing of the dryer really was a bit "off the wall". Seems an odd thing to do when all it needed was to go behind the dryer. Did the guy create a new opening for you? My daughter and I constantly discuss the fact that most men just don't seem to get it. Am sure he would have been quite content to leave the routing that way. Congrats standing your ground.

Love the paint too, you actually painted the water drain. Little details that make the area look even better than the norm. The entire area looks like it belongs there and was meant to be.

Just a suggestion, but you have a perfect opportunity for more folding space by adding a melamine covered board across both the W/D from wall to wall. They can be bought and cut at HD or Lowes to fit. You wouldn't even have to attach it to anything, just lay it across both units. I did this for a number of years, it helped keep the small stuff from mysteriously disappearing and easily wiped down. They cost about 20 bucks.

Thanks for sharing your hard word and wonderful results.

Excellent job! It sure looks purty ;o) I love the wall color, and the cabinets give you plenty of storage. Dilemma solved...nicely done.

The new work was done by our local handyman, to undo what the GC who built the garage, etc. did 3 years ago. Can't believe I lived with that c#$% all this time. Well, its done, and I'm pleased with it.

Mrsmarv - I was a little taken aback when I first painted, but really like it now.

Emagineer, thanks for the suggestion of the long board. I'll definitely look into that.

Thanks again for all your support and suggestions.

Carol