5 Elements of a Highly Efficient Laundry Room
In this world, nothing is certain, except death and taxes...and laundry! Cut down on the hours of washing, drying, folding, and repeating.
It may not be the most glamorous, relaxing, or fun-filled room in the house, but it’s one that sees you through countless waking hours and life’s messiest situations (quite literally). It’s home to muddied shoes and bloodied shirts, heaps of debris salvaged from pockets (I was looking for that crayon/Silly Putty/dollar/frog!), and a pile of lonely unmatched socks (none of which match each other, of course).
Your laundry room should be as efficient and user-friendly as possible.
Add some conveniences to take the dread out of laundry day(s).
Laundry chute
The ideal laundry room location is a hotly debated topic in multi-story houses: main floor or near the bedrooms? Some prefer to have their laundry room on the same level as the bedrooms for convenience’s sake (no lugging laundry baskets up and down stairs) while others would rather have the machines on the main floor (for the ability to switch the loads while cooking or supervising playtime, or so as not to disturb sleeping children with laundry noise). If your laundry room and sleeping quarters are on different levels, consider a laundry chute to shuttle dirty clothing straight to the appropriate place.
You can proudly call attention to your laundry chute…
…or subtly disguise it to preserve your carefully planned decor:
Built-ins
If your room is a bit bigger than a closet, put every surface to work! Install slim recessed cabinets between wall studs to hold fold-down ironing boards or drying racks. Set up an adjustable rod for hanging or, if you’re ambitious, try a suspended pulley system (it’s simpler than it sounds!). Built-in hampers, drying rods, and ironing cabinets (complete with outlets) make laundry infinitely simpler.
Counters
If your room is spacious, be sure to include a counter for folding and storage. Front-loading machines? Top them with a shelf or counter and voila! Instant convenient folding surface and supply shelf.
Laundry station
In laundry areas that are simply too small for any storage, drying racks, detergents, and other supplies often wind up wherever they may fit, convenient or not. A rolling laundry center will keep everything you need in one place; even if it’s not a readily accessible place, transporting it to the laundry “room” is simple and streamlined. Most centers feature storage and hanging space to keep all laundry supplies within reach.
Hand-wash station
If you have the space, install a large laundry sink (also known as a slop sink or utility sink) for washing delicates. Even if you’re short on space, there are plenty of compact and wall-mounted options for smaller areas. If you do a lot of hand laundry or prewashing, check out a machine like Samsung’s Activewash, which has an integrated sink in the machine itself.
Choose a sink that’s stable, deep, and at a comfortable height for use – be sure that you can reach the bottom without bending over too far. Add a handy, multi-directional laundry faucet – the best ones are pull-down, flexible, and/or double-jointed for extended reach and swivel – and you’ve created the perfect hand-wash station.
