Weekend decorator: Builder-grade laundry room gets a big lift

National Post

06-06-2025

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Dear Virginie
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We bought a new 'builder house' about 10 years ago and it's obvious the laundry room was an afterthought. It's ugly and functions really poorly. Even though the room is big, we always feel crammed in there. We need storage solutions too, since it's the place where we keep our cleaning products and become a bit of a dumping ground.
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I see what you mean. The room looks quite big — 6×10 feet judging by the size of the floor tiles, but everything is stuck in the corner and you have no storage or surfaces to work on. The plumbing and venting also look pretty unfinished.
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Let's start with function. The ceilings in your laundry room are quite high, so we can take advantage of vertical space to give you more storage. I like the idea of keeping the washer and dryer stacked, but let's enclose them in some cabinetry that will give you storage room for soap and cleaning supplies above, and also hide all the venting I can see up top. As you can see in my rendering, we can leave a little room on the left for tall items like your ironing board and mop.
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Next, I would run a counter from the side of the laundry toward the door, along the right-hand wall. In the corner that will be awkward to access, we can hide some storage for items that are used less often, or lighter bulkier items like your mop bucket and cleaning supplies. This will also hide all the plumbing connections. A 24-inch-deep kitchen cabinet should work well in that corner. From the side of the machines toward the right-hand wall I would suggest you either mount a rod that you can use to hang items for drying, or you could place a closed cupboard there if you have more storage items that you want to hide away. In that case, an upper kitchen cabinet would work well.
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The new counter space will give you lots of room to fold items on, and rolling laundry bins can be tucked underneath. These are great to keep laundry sorted and off the floor. Depending on what you choose, you would have room for two or three of them. Above the counter is a perfect spot for vertical laundry-hanging; there are lots of clever racks that fold up when not in use so they lie flat against the wall. You have room for two of these above the counter.
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The last thing to tackle would be the overall aesthetics. You're lucky you have nice modern machines as a starting point. I like the idea of playing up the idea of water since it's a laundry room. Ikea has great blue cabinetry that can easily be modified to fit here, and how about wallpaper in the whole room to give it all a stylish lift? I've chosen wallpaper with a fish motif because I think it's whimsical and fun, but I could just as easily see a stylized wave motif wallpaper or some vinyl decals. I like the scale of the fish wallpaper because it makes the room seem bigger than it is. HappyWall.com a Swedish company that prints really fun wallpapers, both traditional and easy-to-install peel-and-stick varieties. Just be sure to choose a vinyl paper that will stand up well to heat and humidity in the room.