Giving Laundry a Room Of Its Own

Laundry day continues to evolve. It’s climbed up from the primordial ooze of the basement corner, past the double louvered door niche in the kitchen or upstairs hallway, into a room of its very own.

Today’s laundry room states: He or she who washes, dries, and irons the dirt and wrinkles from our lives deserves a big, calming, and organized space—a space away from must and cobwebs; a space that doesn’t make you want to bathe after you’ve washed.

Don’t think you’ve got enough space for a separate room for dirty clothes? Think again!

Location

Ideally, a laundry room should be located close to … laundry. For most folks, that means upstairs where the bedrooms are, or by the entry door where young soccer players throw off their dirty socks and snow sledders wiggle out of their wet jeans and boots.

Laundries need an exterior room, because you’ll have to vent the dryer to the outside, and a room that already is plumbed with water and a drain.

So, your perfect laundry room is located in … drumroll please … your current mudroom.

Mudrooms with utility sinks are easily and inexpensively turned into laundry rooms. You’ve already got hot and cold water, a drain, and an easy route to the outside. And since most mudrooms are black holes for outgrown shoes and jackets, dead houseplants and bulk cereal, you can turn the squandered space into a dedicated laundry room.

Washer-dryer units also can be found in tricked-out custom closets.

Laundry room essentials

You can get fancy or keep it real, but your laundry room must have the following:

- Washing machine, preferably one without a centre agitator, which takes up valuable washing space
-- Dryer—the bigger the better
-- Utility sink for soaking stains and scrubbing dirty shoes and boots
-- Hanging bar or rack
-- Cabinet for storing detergent, bleach, softeners.

If space is at a premium, buy a stackable washer-dryer unit that uses half the space as separate units. Also consider an all-in-one wash/dry machine that does both tasks without removing the clothes.

Wishlist

You can pimp out your laundry room with many top-of-the-line systems designed to make washday faster and easier:
-- Install a drying centre that has space to hang clothes while they dry and mesh shelves to lie sweaters

flat
-- Granite countertops slightly above front-loading washer and dryer for a space to fold clothes.
-- Small mounted television above countertops so you can watch your favourite shows as you fold
-- Deep shelves to hold hampers
-- Ironing niche big enough to hold a full-sized ironing board

Article originally published by EiEi Homes Inc. For more information on articles, reviews, and contractors in your area, please see their website at www.eieihome.com.