Designing a laundry room

amother

Mon, Jun 14 2010, 11:21 pm

We are building a laundry room. Any tips on must haves and ways of consolidating everything into a smallish space. Anyone heard of a way to create a low shelf for folding that can also be used as an ironing bored?Any ideas as to where to put something to hang dry clothes?

amother

Mon, Jun 14 2010, 11:33 pm

I have a small laundry room, but I am amazed how much fits it there!!! I have a front loader washer and dryer, which we bought with the pedestals that have built in drawers. I use the drawers to store stainsticks, fabric softeners, hangers, mesh laudry bags, etc. I bought a tall metal rack. On the top it has a shelf for detergent, my iron. Then it has space for 10-15 garments that need to be hung up. On the bottom, there are 3 canvas hanging bags for dirty clothes. I purchased a small tabletop ironing board that sits right on top of metal bars holding the bags when I need to iron, When not in use, I store it next to the dryer. We also have plans to install large cabinets above the machines for storage. I needed an office space, so we bought a tall computer amoire that matches the machines (white). If I didn't need the office space, I would probably put a folding table there. I just fold at the couch. I bought tall, thin plastic hampers on wheels that work very well for shlepping things back and. In the amoire, I have a bookshelf, where I keep all my books related to household tasks and cookbooks. The laundry room is right off the kitchen, so it is very convenient.

life'sgreat

Mon, Jun 14 2010, 11:48 pm

amother wrote:

A sink to soak stained clothing is very important IMO. Even if it's small. Rather closed than open shelves. You might not need a folding table or shelf if you don't have a stackable. I officially use my washer/dryer for folding and it's the perfect height and gives me enough space.

amother

Tue, Jun 15 2010, 11:25 pm

amother wrote:

sorry for sounding stupid, but I have a big sink in my laundry room, and never use it!!!!
when am I supposed to use it? when do I have to soak the clothes?

A sink in the laundry room is great for hand wash only items, items that need to be soaked before putting into the machine. Soaking in clothes before putting them in the machine is great for mud stains, if a baby had a poopy diaper explode (you don't want to put that it the machine...you have to get some of it odd beforehand!),

ra_mom

Tue, Jun 15 2010, 11:45 pm

amother wrote:

I would probably go with an over the door ironing board. And a narrow long folding table that's attached to the wall but can be folded down against the wall when not in use.
Add a rod on that comes out of the wall on top of that, for hanging clothes.
And of course a sink. For pretreating. (I always make clothes wet with cold water before pretreating.) For soaking. For hand washing.
And a front loader machine that comes with a compatible dryer with the extra piece that makes them snap together as stackables.